Muslim Kills Egyptian Christian, Villagers Attack Mourners At Funeral
Egypt (AINA) --
Nayer Mansour Sahrab, a Muslim minibus driver, stabbed four Christian Copts on Sunday, September 27, in the village of Delga, Deir Mawas, Al Minya Governorate, killing one and seriously injuring the other three. The incident led thousands of angry Copts to rally and demand an end to the government's policy of indifference in dealing with Coptic issues. State Security forces have cordoned the village and are still heavily present near the church.
When a Coptic family desired to board a minibus other than the one owned by Mr. Sahrab (28) an argument ensued. Mr. Sahrab was apparently "offended" that his services were declined. The Copts were beaten by Mr. Sahrab, his brother and other Muslims. Mr. Sahrab stabbed Hanna Amir Rezq (26) in his back and abdomen several times with a knife, as well as his brothers Maurice and Amin and his 20-year old nephew Ashraf Maher Amir, who was stabbed several times in the head. Mr. Sahrab fled after committing the crime, but was later arrested.
The killing caused thousands of Copts to rally in front of Deir Mawas Hospital, where Hanna Amir Rezq was taken together with the other three wounded Copts. Hanna died shortly after his arrival. According Mariam Ragy, correspondent for the Middle East Christian Association (MECA), State security prevented Copts from going into the hospital to check on the status of the injured and dispersed them by force. "Angry Copts also rallied in the village of Delga holding banners demanding a stop to Coptic persecution," she said.
Reverend Abram, pastor of the village Saint Abram Church told the Egyptian Daily Masry el Youm that this is not just a fight between a Muslim and a Christian, "Copts are targeted and this is the second incident within one month that a Copt is killed during a fight with a Muslim. The first Coptic victim was murdered after an argument over planting some palm trees, and the second victim today was murdered over boarding a minibus."
His Grace Aghapius, Bishop the Holy Diocese of Deir Mawas and Delga, described the village of Delga, which lies 350 km from Cairo, as "the most violent and the least safe," giving the example of the village Muslims attacking the Copts as they entered the village church for the funeral service of the victim Hanna and on their way out to bury him. "They were pelting them with stones, cheering and singing accompanied by drum beats and Muslim women were letting out the traditional celebration sound. All this happened in the presence of security," he told Mariam Ragy.
Eyewitnesses reported that Copts were replying to Muslims chant of "Allah is Great" with "With our soul and our blood, we will defend our Cross."
Bishop Aghapius said that Copts were also assaulted after the burial, with Muslims smashing Coptic-owned cars, as well as attacking streets that are inhabited entirely by Copts, including El-Hamr Street, prompting Coptic inhabitants to remain inside their homes. "How could all this happen in the presence of seven State Security cars in the village, adjacent to the church?" he asks. "I am still waiting for State Security to carry out their promises of solving our problems."
Hegomen Selwanes of Deir Mawas Diocese told Wagih Yacoub, activist with MECA that this is the second killing of a Copt by a Muslim within one month. The first killing was Fathi Gayed leading to the arrest of numerous Muslims, but prosecution seeks to implicate a 12-year-old boy, which would let the real killer get off the hook. "This incident and similar ones has encouraged Muslims that they can get away without punishment by killing a Copt. This has led Copts to protest. We cannot accept that every few days a Copt gets killed." He also said that top Coptic attorney, Dr. Ihab Ramzy, will handle the case. "The government has to carry out an awareness campaign that the Copt is a citizen and has rights equal to the Muslim. They do not respect us." He also added that the Copts in Delga, who are nearly 30,000 out of a population of 100,000 inhabitants, are very peaceful citizens and are always on good terms with their Muslim neighbors.
"Copts are targeted because they are meek and unable to defend for themselves," Reverend Abram told Coptic News Bulletin. "Besides, Muslims know very well that they will never be prosecuted for killing a Copt.". He explained that they would not dare do the same things to a Muslim, because they would get killed. "Unfortunately Coptic blood is cheap. We demand fairness and equal application of the law, for homicides committed against Copts."
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090930184054.htm
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
A virus called 'Shariah'
Written by Frank Gaffney, Jr
Center for Security Policy
29 September 2009
A Denver airport shuttle driver from Afghanistan who plotted to blow up subway trains in New York City. A Jordanian who tried to destroy one of Dallas' tallest skyscrapers. An American who thought he was detonating a truck bomb aimed at a federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois.
Law enforcement authorities who successfully stymied these alleged attacks have been at pains to emphasize that there are no connections between the three.
Of course there are.
Maybe it will prove to be the case that the three men at the heart of these interrupted plots - Najibullah Zazi, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and Michael Finton (also known as Talib Islam) - had no connection in a tactical or operational sense.
Still, it is absurd, and extremely dangerous, to insist that they are not connected in at least one way: What apparently animated all three of these suspects (and perhaps a number of others believed to have been involved in the New York plot who are still at large) is the seditious, supremacist theo-political-legal program authoritative Islam calls "Shariah."
Shariah requires its adherents to engage in jihad - the struggle to bring about the triumph of Islam worldwide through whatever means are available. Shariah explicitly calls for the use of violent techniques designed to instill terror in those who stand in the way of a global Muslim theocracy.
Lethal truck-bombs, pellet-laced explosive vests and backpacks and bombs or hijackers aboard aircraft have already been used for this purpose. It is a matter of time before vastly more destructive weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear) become available to jihadists who believe that, pursuant to Shariah, they are fulfilling Allah's will when they kill "infidels" or otherwise force them to submit to Islam.
Even more insidious, though, is what Robert Spencer calls "Stealth Jihad." This practice involves using myriad non-violent measures to insinuate Shariah into non-Muslim societies. Adherents demand such concessions as special treatment for them and their faith in public spaces, private corporations, schools, communities and government at every level.
The prime-mover behind these demands is the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that shares the violent jihadists' commitment to advance Shariah's end-state of a global caliphate, but seek (for the moment, at least) to do so non-violently. The successful prosecution last year of one Brotherhood front, the Holy Land Foundation, established that the organization's mission is "to destroy Western civilization from within...by its own miserable hand." (In the course of the trial, the government also identified virtually every prominent Muslim-American group as Brotherhood affiliates or "friendly" to its purposes.)
What happens as tolerant democratic societies try to accommodate themselves to the stealthy form of jihad, backed by the persistent threat of the violent form - if not its actual occurrence, can be seen in much of Western Europe. For example, France now has 751 zones urbaines sensibles - Muslim-only areas that amount to "no-go" zones for French authorities. In these zones, Shariah rules instead of the laws of the host government, at the expense most notably of women's rights, due process and public order (especially for Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims).
To be sure, accommodations to date to Shariah have not metastasized in the United States to nearly this extent. There are, however, numerous worrisome examples of concessions that have been made here, too. To cite a few: taxpayer-financed footbaths for Muslims installed at state universities; corporations providing Muslim-only prayer rooms and time off for prayers; government-sanctioned discrimination by taxi drivers against passengers deemed "impure" (haram) because they have alcohol or dogs; unhygenic practices in food plants to accommodate the preferences of Muslim workers; government-offered Shariah-compliant mortgages; Islamic proselytizing in public school curricula; etc.
The failure by U.S. and other governments' officials to recognize the connection between Shariah and jihad (of either the violent or stealthy kind) is like refusing to acknowledge that there is a common virus causing an outbreak of swine flu. How could the medical community hope to identify appropriate prophylactic measures (for instance: Keep kids in school or shut the schools down? Take antibiotics or not?) if it were not permitted to understand the nature of the virus. There would certainly be little chance of developing effective vaccines under those circumstances.
We face approximately the same problem if we require our law enforcement, intelligence, homeland security and military personnel to behave as though there is no toxic virus - think of it as the "anti-swine flu," since pork is the ultimate in haram under Shariah - animating those seeking to destroy us, our government and our freedom-loving way of life. At best, we will be able to stop some of the attacks the jihadists are plotting against us. We certainly will not be able to defeat the disease and thereby protect Western civilization from its potential for truly pandemic virulence.
Our natural allies in taking such a stance against Shariah are the many millions of Muslims around the world whose practice of their faith does not involve adherence to this medieval, barbaric and totalitarian program. Indeed, most Muslim immigrants in America came here to get away from Shariah in their native lands. Only by differentiating such Muslims from the carriers of this lethal virus can we hope to inoculate them against the spread of the disease - and enlist their help in protecting the rest of us by keeping American Shariah-free.
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is President of the Center for Security Policy, a columnist for the Washington Times and host of the nationally syndicated program, Secure Freedom Radio.
Center for Security Policy
29 September 2009
A Denver airport shuttle driver from Afghanistan who plotted to blow up subway trains in New York City. A Jordanian who tried to destroy one of Dallas' tallest skyscrapers. An American who thought he was detonating a truck bomb aimed at a federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois.
Law enforcement authorities who successfully stymied these alleged attacks have been at pains to emphasize that there are no connections between the three.
Of course there are.
Maybe it will prove to be the case that the three men at the heart of these interrupted plots - Najibullah Zazi, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and Michael Finton (also known as Talib Islam) - had no connection in a tactical or operational sense.
Still, it is absurd, and extremely dangerous, to insist that they are not connected in at least one way: What apparently animated all three of these suspects (and perhaps a number of others believed to have been involved in the New York plot who are still at large) is the seditious, supremacist theo-political-legal program authoritative Islam calls "Shariah."
Shariah requires its adherents to engage in jihad - the struggle to bring about the triumph of Islam worldwide through whatever means are available. Shariah explicitly calls for the use of violent techniques designed to instill terror in those who stand in the way of a global Muslim theocracy.
Lethal truck-bombs, pellet-laced explosive vests and backpacks and bombs or hijackers aboard aircraft have already been used for this purpose. It is a matter of time before vastly more destructive weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear) become available to jihadists who believe that, pursuant to Shariah, they are fulfilling Allah's will when they kill "infidels" or otherwise force them to submit to Islam.
Even more insidious, though, is what Robert Spencer calls "Stealth Jihad." This practice involves using myriad non-violent measures to insinuate Shariah into non-Muslim societies. Adherents demand such concessions as special treatment for them and their faith in public spaces, private corporations, schools, communities and government at every level.
The prime-mover behind these demands is the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that shares the violent jihadists' commitment to advance Shariah's end-state of a global caliphate, but seek (for the moment, at least) to do so non-violently. The successful prosecution last year of one Brotherhood front, the Holy Land Foundation, established that the organization's mission is "to destroy Western civilization from within...by its own miserable hand." (In the course of the trial, the government also identified virtually every prominent Muslim-American group as Brotherhood affiliates or "friendly" to its purposes.)
What happens as tolerant democratic societies try to accommodate themselves to the stealthy form of jihad, backed by the persistent threat of the violent form - if not its actual occurrence, can be seen in much of Western Europe. For example, France now has 751 zones urbaines sensibles - Muslim-only areas that amount to "no-go" zones for French authorities. In these zones, Shariah rules instead of the laws of the host government, at the expense most notably of women's rights, due process and public order (especially for Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims).
To be sure, accommodations to date to Shariah have not metastasized in the United States to nearly this extent. There are, however, numerous worrisome examples of concessions that have been made here, too. To cite a few: taxpayer-financed footbaths for Muslims installed at state universities; corporations providing Muslim-only prayer rooms and time off for prayers; government-sanctioned discrimination by taxi drivers against passengers deemed "impure" (haram) because they have alcohol or dogs; unhygenic practices in food plants to accommodate the preferences of Muslim workers; government-offered Shariah-compliant mortgages; Islamic proselytizing in public school curricula; etc.
The failure by U.S. and other governments' officials to recognize the connection between Shariah and jihad (of either the violent or stealthy kind) is like refusing to acknowledge that there is a common virus causing an outbreak of swine flu. How could the medical community hope to identify appropriate prophylactic measures (for instance: Keep kids in school or shut the schools down? Take antibiotics or not?) if it were not permitted to understand the nature of the virus. There would certainly be little chance of developing effective vaccines under those circumstances.
We face approximately the same problem if we require our law enforcement, intelligence, homeland security and military personnel to behave as though there is no toxic virus - think of it as the "anti-swine flu," since pork is the ultimate in haram under Shariah - animating those seeking to destroy us, our government and our freedom-loving way of life. At best, we will be able to stop some of the attacks the jihadists are plotting against us. We certainly will not be able to defeat the disease and thereby protect Western civilization from its potential for truly pandemic virulence.
Our natural allies in taking such a stance against Shariah are the many millions of Muslims around the world whose practice of their faith does not involve adherence to this medieval, barbaric and totalitarian program. Indeed, most Muslim immigrants in America came here to get away from Shariah in their native lands. Only by differentiating such Muslims from the carriers of this lethal virus can we hope to inoculate them against the spread of the disease - and enlist their help in protecting the rest of us by keeping American Shariah-free.
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. is President of the Center for Security Policy, a columnist for the Washington Times and host of the nationally syndicated program, Secure Freedom Radio.
The US and the Internal Islamic Threat
Written by Lee Jay Walker
The Seoul Times
29 September 2009
Coptic Christian minority in Egypt suffer enormous persecution.
The United States is now gradually waking up to a growing internal Islamic menace which desires to kill in the name of Islam. In the past week you have had three different cases involving Islamists who desired to kill and intimidate the people of America.
In the United Kingdom the same problem exists but just like in America, under President Obama, both nations are pandering to Islam and propagating false lies about this religion. Therefore, it is time to focus on the real factors behind the growing Sunni Islamic threat within America and in other nations.
The first important factor that must be understood is that this threat comes from radical Sunni Islam and not from Shia Islam. In America and the United Kingdom you have many Shia Muslims; however, it is clear that all major global Islamic terrorism derives from radical Sunni Islam.
It is also abundantly clear that the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is not involved in terrorism because their brand of Islam is based on different interpretations and this branch of Islam suffers greatly in Pakistan and other nations, for example in Indonesia. Therefore, it is vital to understand where the focus should be because Ahmadiyya Muslims and Shia Muslims, and other branches of Islam like the Alevi, must be split from where the problem exists.
In Lebanon you do have Shia terrorist organizations however they are focused on either internal problems in Lebanon or on the situation in Israel. Also, in Yemen you have current problems with the restive Shia population but once more this is an internal matter and not based on expanding jihad and the same applies to Shia organizations in Iraq and Pakistan.
Therefore, Islamic terrorist attacks in America, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and other nations, have all been done by radical Sunni Islamists. Also, the inspiration behind these terrorist attacks is coming from the same avenue and this avenue of terrorism and global Islamic jihad can be traced back to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
B. Raman, a specialist in this field stated in the South Asia Analysis Group, paper number 1767, that "While the Deobandi extremists have been backing---openly or covertly--- Al Qaeda and its ideology, the Barelvis have been uncomfortable over it. Many of them have been critical of the use of the Pakistani territory by Al Qaeda and the (International Islamic Front) IIF for their terrorist operations in other countries. They have also been worried over the implications of the message disseminated by bin Laden in January, 2006, in which he claimed that plans for another terrorist strike in the US homeland were already underway."
B. Raman also states that "There are two main groups of Sunni sectarian organisations in Pakistan---the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, both strongly Deobandi-Wahabi-Salafi and both members of the IIF, and the Sunni Tehrik, strongly Barelvi and anti-Deobandi-Wahabi-Salafi. Since many years, the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ have embarked on a campaign for the Arabisation and Wahabisation of the Barelvi Muslims and for removing the distorting influence of Hinduism. The Sunni Tehrik has been resisting the onslaught of the Deobandis, Wahabis and Salafis."
Therefore, just like B. Raman points out, we can apply this to the international arena because the same forces and with Saudi financial backing, irrespective if government or organizations or wealthy individuals, is spreading the same message of hate to other nations far and wide. Yet why do nations like America, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom, and many others, allow this?
It is abundantly clear that the Muslim community in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s is very different to elements within the Muslim community today. According to B. Raman he states that "For the last fifteen years, there has been a conflict between the Deobandis and the Barelvis for the control of the mosques and their funds not only in Pakistan, but also in the UK. Previously, the Barelvis used to control the mosques in the UK frequented by immigrants from the sub-continent, but they have since been driven out by the Deobandis and Wahabis. This was the starting point for the radicalisation of the Pakistani-origin Muslims in the UK and in the other countries of West Europe. The ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence) has been supporting the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ in Pakistan as well as in West Europe."
Therefore, it is clear that funding within Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is causing mayhem and it is obvious that you have "a war within Islam" and "an ongoing Islamic jihad" against moderate Muslims, other sects within Islam and against non-Muslims. Other channels of funding throughout the Middle East also applies but the mindset and ideological thinking is based on the same branches of Islam and it is clear where the counter-jihad must begin.
Yet amazingly, and even after September 11th, whereby nearly all Sunni Islamists were Saudi nationals; the United States destroyed a secular based nation in Iraq and ignored the greater problem. After all, how many American soldiers and other international forces have been killed by radical Saudi Islamists in Iraq or by Saudi Arabian organizations which preach jihad and hatred?
Given this, it appears that the focus of attention is based on the wrong area and even today Saudi Arabian funding is creating mayhem in mainly Muslim societies or mainly non-Muslim societies where Muslim minorities are growing.
Walid Phares, author of "The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad," and of many other books and a senior expert in this field, stated "Petro-Islamism is also having a big impact in the higher education sector. As Walid Phares, an expert on global terrorism remarks in The War of Ideas (2007), globally, "a wave of oil funding hit university after university, college after college, and research centre after research centre. The objectives were fully ideological: further the cause of Islam, support the Palestinian cause, and plant the seeds of the concept of an illegitimate West."
In Britain, a report about the growing rise of Islamic funding by Brunel University's Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies highlighted the nature of the problem. The report stated that more than $491 million dollars have been spent on funding Islamic study centres and other forms of propagation. These institutions include Cambridge and Oxford, therefore, radical Islamists have gained a foothold in major circles.
I myself studied at the University of London and radical Islam was clearly a daily problem and militants were often trying to spread their hatred and propaganda. It is also noticeable that Omar Sheikh who was convicted for the beheading of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, also studied at the London School of Economics.
Getting back to the radical Sunni Islamic threat then it is vital to confront this threat openly and to stop hiding behind liberalism, moral relativism, or untold excuses for why we must understand the causes behind radical Sunni Islam. The apologist brigade, for example Karen Armstrong, and countless others, portray Islam to be a religion of peace but Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, did not show much peace towards his enemies, instead he either enslaved them, had them killed or they were exiled.
Another important factor which must not be overlooked is history. For example the Buddhist/Hindu lands which are now called Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan (especially influenced by Zoroastrianism), and other nations; all allowed diversity despite occasional bouts of religious tensions. Therefore, you had Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Nestorian Christians, Pagans, Zoroastrians, and other faiths, all mingling together in a vast region
However, the onset of Islam changed all this because over time in both Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, the older religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism (the oldest religion), would be Islamized because of several factors.
These factors were multiple but clearly the role of Islamic jihad, dhimmitude, jizya, massive persecution, slavery, forced conversion, control of resources, and so forth, all culminated in a tide of Islamization.
Yet the leaders of these areas would also have believed that accommodation could have been met and that Islam was just another religion. However, Islam is based on victor and vanquished, and this religion is more like an ideology because it fuses religion, politics, economics, law, and the regulation of society, together and clearly non-Muslims are unequal (indeed Buddhists and Hindus are deemed to be subhuman because they are not people of the Book) in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
Even in 2009 apostates from Islam can be killed in accordance with the teachings of Mohammed and other religious believers are still suffering from Islamization. This applies to Christians being burnt alive in Pakistan, apostates from Islam being killed in Somalia, attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, persecution of Baha'is in Iran, Christian pastors being beheaded in northern Nigeria, Assyrian Christians and other minorities (Shabaks, Yazidis and Mandaean) also fear daily attacks and the same applies to the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.
The forces of Islamic jihad is ongoing and Buddhists face severe persecution in southern Thailand and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (also Christian and Hindu tribal's) in Bangladesh and of course Buddhism in history always collapsed when Islamic armies conquered their lands.
I stated in a past article, that "Today, just like the 7th century, Islam is still killing apostates or persecuting them. Today, just like in the 7th century, Muslims are still waging wars against non-Muslims in countless numbers of nations. Today, just like the 7th century, Muslim fanatics are still killing fellow Muslims who are deemed to be not Muslim enough."
"The apologists will keep on making excuses; however, it is clear that in many parts of the Islamic dominated world, that hatred still dictates. Therefore, in 2009, just like in the 7th century, non-Muslims still suffer enormous persecution and some Islamists are still dreaming of spreading Islam by the sword or by propaganda."
Now this war against non-Muslims and moderate Muslims alike is being waged in northern Nigeria against Christians, against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, against Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and against Buddhists in southern Thailand. The same also applies to countless other conflicts or nations where minorities suffer enormous persecution, for example the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.
This jihad is now being propagated within nations like America and the United Kingdom. Yet how can you confront your enemy when you have to play by political correctness, pander to the very same people who want to enforce Islamic Sharia law on you or have dialogue with a religion which supports killing all apostates and treating non-Muslims unequally in Islamic Sharia law?
If we ignore the past diversity of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, then one day our civilizations may end up the same way?
After all, just like the past, religious leaders and elites within the Buddhist, Hindu, Nestorian Christian, and Zoroastrian communities did not understand the true nature of Islam. However, by the time they understood it was too late and today Buddhism in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a distant memory and the same applies to Zoroastrianism in Uzbekistan. At the same time, in the modern world Buddhism may soon be a distant memory in southern Thailand if Islamists get their way and maybe Iraq will soon have no more Mandaeans?
Walid Phares comments on recent events in America and states that "The North Carolina cell, the New York subway plot, the Dallas attempt, the Illinois case, added to the previous cases of the shooting of a soldier in Arkansas, the precedent New York cells, Georgia's young Jihadists, all the way back to the infamous Virginia paintball network, if anything gives us the genome of what is morphing inside the country -- a vast body of dispersed cells with at least one binding force -- the Jihadi ideology. The question thus is to find out who is propagating the doctrines of Jihadism: who is funding it; who is protecting the indoctrination operation which leads naturally to the rise of homegrown or foreign linked, lone wolves or packs of Jihadists, Terrorists. That is the real question: where is the factory?"
Therefore, it is vital to stop major funding which is spreading radical Sunni Islam and to focus on where the threat is. It is also vital that national governments work together and that history is not forgotten. Also, more attention must be focused on persecution and injustice "within the House of Islam" and the "real Mohammed" must be told instead of the Western liberal version which is bent on appeasement and revisionism.
The Seoul Times
29 September 2009
Coptic Christian minority in Egypt suffer enormous persecution.
The United States is now gradually waking up to a growing internal Islamic menace which desires to kill in the name of Islam. In the past week you have had three different cases involving Islamists who desired to kill and intimidate the people of America.
In the United Kingdom the same problem exists but just like in America, under President Obama, both nations are pandering to Islam and propagating false lies about this religion. Therefore, it is time to focus on the real factors behind the growing Sunni Islamic threat within America and in other nations.
The first important factor that must be understood is that this threat comes from radical Sunni Islam and not from Shia Islam. In America and the United Kingdom you have many Shia Muslims; however, it is clear that all major global Islamic terrorism derives from radical Sunni Islam.
It is also abundantly clear that the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is not involved in terrorism because their brand of Islam is based on different interpretations and this branch of Islam suffers greatly in Pakistan and other nations, for example in Indonesia. Therefore, it is vital to understand where the focus should be because Ahmadiyya Muslims and Shia Muslims, and other branches of Islam like the Alevi, must be split from where the problem exists.
In Lebanon you do have Shia terrorist organizations however they are focused on either internal problems in Lebanon or on the situation in Israel. Also, in Yemen you have current problems with the restive Shia population but once more this is an internal matter and not based on expanding jihad and the same applies to Shia organizations in Iraq and Pakistan.
Therefore, Islamic terrorist attacks in America, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and other nations, have all been done by radical Sunni Islamists. Also, the inspiration behind these terrorist attacks is coming from the same avenue and this avenue of terrorism and global Islamic jihad can be traced back to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
B. Raman, a specialist in this field stated in the South Asia Analysis Group, paper number 1767, that "While the Deobandi extremists have been backing---openly or covertly--- Al Qaeda and its ideology, the Barelvis have been uncomfortable over it. Many of them have been critical of the use of the Pakistani territory by Al Qaeda and the (International Islamic Front) IIF for their terrorist operations in other countries. They have also been worried over the implications of the message disseminated by bin Laden in January, 2006, in which he claimed that plans for another terrorist strike in the US homeland were already underway."
B. Raman also states that "There are two main groups of Sunni sectarian organisations in Pakistan---the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, both strongly Deobandi-Wahabi-Salafi and both members of the IIF, and the Sunni Tehrik, strongly Barelvi and anti-Deobandi-Wahabi-Salafi. Since many years, the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ have embarked on a campaign for the Arabisation and Wahabisation of the Barelvi Muslims and for removing the distorting influence of Hinduism. The Sunni Tehrik has been resisting the onslaught of the Deobandis, Wahabis and Salafis."
Therefore, just like B. Raman points out, we can apply this to the international arena because the same forces and with Saudi financial backing, irrespective if government or organizations or wealthy individuals, is spreading the same message of hate to other nations far and wide. Yet why do nations like America, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom, and many others, allow this?
It is abundantly clear that the Muslim community in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s is very different to elements within the Muslim community today. According to B. Raman he states that "For the last fifteen years, there has been a conflict between the Deobandis and the Barelvis for the control of the mosques and their funds not only in Pakistan, but also in the UK. Previously, the Barelvis used to control the mosques in the UK frequented by immigrants from the sub-continent, but they have since been driven out by the Deobandis and Wahabis. This was the starting point for the radicalisation of the Pakistani-origin Muslims in the UK and in the other countries of West Europe. The ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence) has been supporting the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ in Pakistan as well as in West Europe."
Therefore, it is clear that funding within Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is causing mayhem and it is obvious that you have "a war within Islam" and "an ongoing Islamic jihad" against moderate Muslims, other sects within Islam and against non-Muslims. Other channels of funding throughout the Middle East also applies but the mindset and ideological thinking is based on the same branches of Islam and it is clear where the counter-jihad must begin.
Yet amazingly, and even after September 11th, whereby nearly all Sunni Islamists were Saudi nationals; the United States destroyed a secular based nation in Iraq and ignored the greater problem. After all, how many American soldiers and other international forces have been killed by radical Saudi Islamists in Iraq or by Saudi Arabian organizations which preach jihad and hatred?
Given this, it appears that the focus of attention is based on the wrong area and even today Saudi Arabian funding is creating mayhem in mainly Muslim societies or mainly non-Muslim societies where Muslim minorities are growing.
Walid Phares, author of "The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad," and of many other books and a senior expert in this field, stated "Petro-Islamism is also having a big impact in the higher education sector. As Walid Phares, an expert on global terrorism remarks in The War of Ideas (2007), globally, "a wave of oil funding hit university after university, college after college, and research centre after research centre. The objectives were fully ideological: further the cause of Islam, support the Palestinian cause, and plant the seeds of the concept of an illegitimate West."
In Britain, a report about the growing rise of Islamic funding by Brunel University's Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies highlighted the nature of the problem. The report stated that more than $491 million dollars have been spent on funding Islamic study centres and other forms of propagation. These institutions include Cambridge and Oxford, therefore, radical Islamists have gained a foothold in major circles.
I myself studied at the University of London and radical Islam was clearly a daily problem and militants were often trying to spread their hatred and propaganda. It is also noticeable that Omar Sheikh who was convicted for the beheading of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, also studied at the London School of Economics.
Getting back to the radical Sunni Islamic threat then it is vital to confront this threat openly and to stop hiding behind liberalism, moral relativism, or untold excuses for why we must understand the causes behind radical Sunni Islam. The apologist brigade, for example Karen Armstrong, and countless others, portray Islam to be a religion of peace but Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, did not show much peace towards his enemies, instead he either enslaved them, had them killed or they were exiled.
Another important factor which must not be overlooked is history. For example the Buddhist/Hindu lands which are now called Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan (especially influenced by Zoroastrianism), and other nations; all allowed diversity despite occasional bouts of religious tensions. Therefore, you had Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Nestorian Christians, Pagans, Zoroastrians, and other faiths, all mingling together in a vast region
However, the onset of Islam changed all this because over time in both Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, the older religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism (the oldest religion), would be Islamized because of several factors.
These factors were multiple but clearly the role of Islamic jihad, dhimmitude, jizya, massive persecution, slavery, forced conversion, control of resources, and so forth, all culminated in a tide of Islamization.
Yet the leaders of these areas would also have believed that accommodation could have been met and that Islam was just another religion. However, Islam is based on victor and vanquished, and this religion is more like an ideology because it fuses religion, politics, economics, law, and the regulation of society, together and clearly non-Muslims are unequal (indeed Buddhists and Hindus are deemed to be subhuman because they are not people of the Book) in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
Even in 2009 apostates from Islam can be killed in accordance with the teachings of Mohammed and other religious believers are still suffering from Islamization. This applies to Christians being burnt alive in Pakistan, apostates from Islam being killed in Somalia, attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, persecution of Baha'is in Iran, Christian pastors being beheaded in northern Nigeria, Assyrian Christians and other minorities (Shabaks, Yazidis and Mandaean) also fear daily attacks and the same applies to the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.
The forces of Islamic jihad is ongoing and Buddhists face severe persecution in southern Thailand and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (also Christian and Hindu tribal's) in Bangladesh and of course Buddhism in history always collapsed when Islamic armies conquered their lands.
I stated in a past article, that "Today, just like the 7th century, Islam is still killing apostates or persecuting them. Today, just like in the 7th century, Muslims are still waging wars against non-Muslims in countless numbers of nations. Today, just like the 7th century, Muslim fanatics are still killing fellow Muslims who are deemed to be not Muslim enough."
"The apologists will keep on making excuses; however, it is clear that in many parts of the Islamic dominated world, that hatred still dictates. Therefore, in 2009, just like in the 7th century, non-Muslims still suffer enormous persecution and some Islamists are still dreaming of spreading Islam by the sword or by propaganda."
Now this war against non-Muslims and moderate Muslims alike is being waged in northern Nigeria against Christians, against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, against Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and against Buddhists in southern Thailand. The same also applies to countless other conflicts or nations where minorities suffer enormous persecution, for example the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.
This jihad is now being propagated within nations like America and the United Kingdom. Yet how can you confront your enemy when you have to play by political correctness, pander to the very same people who want to enforce Islamic Sharia law on you or have dialogue with a religion which supports killing all apostates and treating non-Muslims unequally in Islamic Sharia law?
If we ignore the past diversity of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, then one day our civilizations may end up the same way?
After all, just like the past, religious leaders and elites within the Buddhist, Hindu, Nestorian Christian, and Zoroastrian communities did not understand the true nature of Islam. However, by the time they understood it was too late and today Buddhism in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a distant memory and the same applies to Zoroastrianism in Uzbekistan. At the same time, in the modern world Buddhism may soon be a distant memory in southern Thailand if Islamists get their way and maybe Iraq will soon have no more Mandaeans?
Walid Phares comments on recent events in America and states that "The North Carolina cell, the New York subway plot, the Dallas attempt, the Illinois case, added to the previous cases of the shooting of a soldier in Arkansas, the precedent New York cells, Georgia's young Jihadists, all the way back to the infamous Virginia paintball network, if anything gives us the genome of what is morphing inside the country -- a vast body of dispersed cells with at least one binding force -- the Jihadi ideology. The question thus is to find out who is propagating the doctrines of Jihadism: who is funding it; who is protecting the indoctrination operation which leads naturally to the rise of homegrown or foreign linked, lone wolves or packs of Jihadists, Terrorists. That is the real question: where is the factory?"
Therefore, it is vital to stop major funding which is spreading radical Sunni Islam and to focus on where the threat is. It is also vital that national governments work together and that history is not forgotten. Also, more attention must be focused on persecution and injustice "within the House of Islam" and the "real Mohammed" must be told instead of the Western liberal version which is bent on appeasement and revisionism.
Lethal fight in Minya angers Copts
Lethal fight in Minya angers Copts
By Teresa Kamal
A Copt died and three others were injured in a fight in the village of Deir Mawas in Minya Governorate yesterday. Coptic residents of the village crowded in front of the public hospital where the victim was being treated.
They gathered outside the police cordon and seemed to be growing hostile, at times appearing as though they would throw stones at the police if they were not allowed to enter the hospital. Rev. Michel Gaber of the local church stepped in to diffuse tensions. The crowd grew angrier when they heard that Hanna Rezq died from his injuries. They were soon joined by more Copts in what seemed to be a civil disobedience act against discrimination. Minya has frequently been a site of conflict between Christians and Muslims. "A bus driver was fighting with my brother. Suddenly he stabbed him with a knife and ran away," said Maher Hanna.
Detained blogger assaulted and asked to convert to Islam
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Egypt: Detained blogger assaulted and asked to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom
posted by Noha Atef
The lawyer of the arrested blogger Hani Nazeer still not allowed to visit his client. However, the Christian blogger Nazeer managed to contact The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information revealing that he was assaulted and asked to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom:
He and other inmates had been beaten by prison officers and had their heads shaved by force. Nazeer said that he has now been registered as a criminal detainee, which puts his life in danger as he will be imprisoned with drug dealers and murderers… He earlier complained to ANHRI lawyers that he was being pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom
Nazeer has been arrested for almost a year, as in 1st October 2008 he was taken from his house in Qena (Upper Egypt) with the help of the church and a wide welcome from local Muslims.
According to the ANHRI, the controversy began when some young Muslims were browsing Hani's blog Karaz Elhob (Love Cherries) and found a link to another site containing an electronic novel called “Azazil's Goat in Mecca” which included an attack on Islam. This novel is written by an anonymous author under the name of “Father Utah” and came in response to Yusuf Zidane's famous novel “Azazil,” which was considered by some conservatives as offensive to Christianity. Hani's village thought he was the author of the story.
For the time being, Hani's blog has no posts; all his articles seem to be removed. The arrested blogger used to criticize both of Muslims and Christians ‘fanatics' and mixing religion with politics.
Nazeer has been detained in Borg El-Arab prison in Alexandria, a place used to detain bloggers such as Musa'ad Abu Fagr, who was beaten up in his prison cell and Kareem Amer who has been subjected to severe torture which resulted in multiple injuries in addition to a broken tooth. Kareem Amer was deprived of the right to report the incident and of the right to document these injuries in a medical report. Two other bloggers were reported to have been tortured in Borg El-Arab like Kareem El-Beheiry and Mohammad Maree.
In order to scare them, and the rest of the egyptian blogsphere, bloggers are usually detained with criminals, or confined in isolation. However, this strategy failed to scare the Egyptian blogsphere which became actively engaged in protesting prison abuses and incommunicado detention.
These crimes against bloggers have occurred within the frame of the systematic phenomenon of torture all over the Egyptian police stations and prisons.
Mourners Protest Islamic Attacks on Copts in Egypt
Muslim assailant gruesomely slays Christian, attacks two others with knife.
By Will Morris
ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 (Compass Direct News) – A funeral for a Coptic Christian gruesomely killed on a village street north of Cairo by a Muslim assailant last week turned into a protest by hundreds of demonstrators in Egypt.
Galal Nasr el-Dardiri, 35, attacked 63-year-old Abdu Georgy in front of the victim’s shop in Behnay village the afternoon of Sept. 16, according to research by a local journalist. Other Copts watched in horror as El-Dardiri stabbed Georgy five times in the back, according to interviews by Gamal Gerges, a reporter for newspaper Al-Youm al-Sabeh.
As Georgy fell to the ground, El-Dardiri took his knife and stabbed him four times in the stomach. He then disemboweled him, slit his throat and began sawing off his head, according to Gerges. The Rev. Stephanos Aazer, a Coptic priest who knew Georgy and saw photographs of his mutilated body, said the victim’s head was attached to the body by a small piece of flesh.
After killing Georgy, El-Dardiri got on a motorcycle and rode 30 minutes to another town, where he found Coptic shopkeeper Boils Eid Messiha, 40, and stabbed him twice in the stomach, according to Gerges. El-Dardiri immediately left the scene, went to nearby Mit Afif and allegedly attacked Hany Barsom Soliman. Soliman, a Copt in his mid-20s, managed to fight him off.
Messiha was taken to a hospital where he has been operated on at least five times. He remained in intensive care at press time. Soliman suffered lacerations to his arms but was otherwise unharmed.
On Thursday afternoon (Sept. 17), about 1,000 people gathered at Georgy’s funeral to protest the killing and assaults on Coptic Christians. Protestors chanted that Georgy’s “blood was not [spilled] in vain” as they carried signs that read, “Where are you, government? The terrorists are going to kill us.”
Aazer and several other priests participated in the demonstration. Aazer, of the Behnay area, confirmed that police had been monitoring local Copts and even tracking telephone conversations of clergy.
El-Dardiri was arrested on Thursday (Sept. 17) in Cairo and has been charged with murder. It was unclear when he would appear in court.
Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts Great Britain, said Egypt has encouraged the type of “radicalization” that has led to such attacks.
“It is the Egyptian government’s responsibility now to stop the persecution and victimization of its Coptic minority by Islamic fundamentalists,” he said. “The persecution and victimization of the Christians in Egypt has been persistent for three decades and recently escalated to a worrying tempo.”
Habib added that Egypt needs to root out Islamic extremists from government agencies, “including the Egyptian police, which frequently show complacency or collusion with the Islamists against the peaceful Christians.”
By Will Morris
ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 (Compass Direct News) – A funeral for a Coptic Christian gruesomely killed on a village street north of Cairo by a Muslim assailant last week turned into a protest by hundreds of demonstrators in Egypt.
Galal Nasr el-Dardiri, 35, attacked 63-year-old Abdu Georgy in front of the victim’s shop in Behnay village the afternoon of Sept. 16, according to research by a local journalist. Other Copts watched in horror as El-Dardiri stabbed Georgy five times in the back, according to interviews by Gamal Gerges, a reporter for newspaper Al-Youm al-Sabeh.
As Georgy fell to the ground, El-Dardiri took his knife and stabbed him four times in the stomach. He then disemboweled him, slit his throat and began sawing off his head, according to Gerges. The Rev. Stephanos Aazer, a Coptic priest who knew Georgy and saw photographs of his mutilated body, said the victim’s head was attached to the body by a small piece of flesh.
After killing Georgy, El-Dardiri got on a motorcycle and rode 30 minutes to another town, where he found Coptic shopkeeper Boils Eid Messiha, 40, and stabbed him twice in the stomach, according to Gerges. El-Dardiri immediately left the scene, went to nearby Mit Afif and allegedly attacked Hany Barsom Soliman. Soliman, a Copt in his mid-20s, managed to fight him off.
Messiha was taken to a hospital where he has been operated on at least five times. He remained in intensive care at press time. Soliman suffered lacerations to his arms but was otherwise unharmed.
On Thursday afternoon (Sept. 17), about 1,000 people gathered at Georgy’s funeral to protest the killing and assaults on Coptic Christians. Protestors chanted that Georgy’s “blood was not [spilled] in vain” as they carried signs that read, “Where are you, government? The terrorists are going to kill us.”
Aazer and several other priests participated in the demonstration. Aazer, of the Behnay area, confirmed that police had been monitoring local Copts and even tracking telephone conversations of clergy.
El-Dardiri was arrested on Thursday (Sept. 17) in Cairo and has been charged with murder. It was unclear when he would appear in court.
Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts Great Britain, said Egypt has encouraged the type of “radicalization” that has led to such attacks.
“It is the Egyptian government’s responsibility now to stop the persecution and victimization of its Coptic minority by Islamic fundamentalists,” he said. “The persecution and victimization of the Christians in Egypt has been persistent for three decades and recently escalated to a worrying tempo.”
Habib added that Egypt needs to root out Islamic extremists from government agencies, “including the Egyptian police, which frequently show complacency or collusion with the Islamists against the peaceful Christians.”
A Message to the united Nations
By Nabil Mikhail
I would like to Thank Mr. Clooney for inviting regular everyday people like us to express our opinion and have our voices heard.
My name is Nabil Mikhail, I am an American citizen, but I was born in a country where minorities are not only persecuted, but they also have no voice and value.
Peace, like air and water, should be the right of every human being living on earth. For us to achieve peace we should look at the roots and the causes of the problem.
In many countries ruled by the Islamic regime, we see the violations against minorities who are usually Christians. We see AHMADINEJAD ignoring the Israeli presence, as well as the Palestinians refusing to coexist with an Israeli state. We see Egypt, who made a peace treaty with Israel while the Egyptian media feed its citizens the hate for Israel. This shows us that the government is heading into one direction, while the media, which is controlled by the government, is going toward the opposite direction.
While the whole world is focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as if solving it will create peace in the whole world, I believe that we should give any less attention to Darfur, the Christians in Iraq, the Christians in Pakistan, the Christians in Afghanistan, and the Christians in Saudi Arabia who are not even allowed to pray in their own homes. In these countries, converting from Islam to any other religion means being executed, if not by your family, then by the government.
I think the United Nations should stop listening to governments and start talking with the people in the streets of these countries. Because while governments like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan assure that they are providing equal freedoms to their citizens regardless of their religion or ethnicity, the truth is the opposite of what they claim. Corruption, favoritism, and persecution are the traits of everyday activity, to the point that people take it as the norm in a Muslim ruled country.
I believe the United Nations should start a dialogue with different organizations that represent the minorities in these countries.
I believe the United Nations should start listening to those who have no representation in their own governments, speak for those who are silenced by fear, and act for those who are paralyzed by tyranny.
Listen to people in the street instead of presidents in their luxury homes. Listen to the alienated minorities, instead of the oppressing majority; listen to the weak instead of the strong, walk in the streets instead of watching the government controlled media, listen to the people instead of the governments.
http://www.peaceforminorities.com/
My name is Nabil Mikhail, I am an American citizen, but I was born in a country where minorities are not only persecuted, but they also have no voice and value.
Peace, like air and water, should be the right of every human being living on earth. For us to achieve peace we should look at the roots and the causes of the problem.
In many countries ruled by the Islamic regime, we see the violations against minorities who are usually Christians. We see AHMADINEJAD ignoring the Israeli presence, as well as the Palestinians refusing to coexist with an Israeli state. We see Egypt, who made a peace treaty with Israel while the Egyptian media feed its citizens the hate for Israel. This shows us that the government is heading into one direction, while the media, which is controlled by the government, is going toward the opposite direction.
While the whole world is focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as if solving it will create peace in the whole world, I believe that we should give any less attention to Darfur, the Christians in Iraq, the Christians in Pakistan, the Christians in Afghanistan, and the Christians in Saudi Arabia who are not even allowed to pray in their own homes. In these countries, converting from Islam to any other religion means being executed, if not by your family, then by the government.
I think the United Nations should stop listening to governments and start talking with the people in the streets of these countries. Because while governments like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan assure that they are providing equal freedoms to their citizens regardless of their religion or ethnicity, the truth is the opposite of what they claim. Corruption, favoritism, and persecution are the traits of everyday activity, to the point that people take it as the norm in a Muslim ruled country.
I believe the United Nations should start a dialogue with different organizations that represent the minorities in these countries.
I believe the United Nations should start listening to those who have no representation in their own governments, speak for those who are silenced by fear, and act for those who are paralyzed by tyranny.
Listen to people in the street instead of presidents in their luxury homes. Listen to the alienated minorities, instead of the oppressing majority; listen to the weak instead of the strong, walk in the streets instead of watching the government controlled media, listen to the people instead of the governments.
http://www.peaceforminorities.com/
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Christians of the Nile Valley...
click& watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vrPIOOBU18&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk_ejeeEwJ0
This a very informative e-mail, to all members I did not write any of what is in this e-mail I am just sharing it with you don't like that title or the sender, just press delete. I hope you enjoy it.
MGB
Nagla
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Muslim Convert to Christianity Prevented From Leaving Egypt
Muslim Convert to Christianity Prevented From Leaving Egypt
(AINA) -- Egyptian authorities have prevented Maher El-Gowhary, a Muslim-born Christian convert, from leaving the country. He was detained at Cairo Airport. His passport confiscated and he was advised that he is barred from traveling on orders from a 'higher authority'.
Maher and his 15-year-old daughter, Dina, who also embraced Christianity, were traveling to China on 17th September 2009, on a two-week holiday.
Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts GB, who spoke with El-Gowhary during his detainment at the airport, said that Maher was treated very badly by airport security, and was told of his travel ban "less than an hour before departure."
Human rights lawyer Nabil Ghobrial joined Maher at the airport. He filed an incident report at the airport police station. According to Ghobrial it is against the law to prevent a citizen from traveling unless there is a legal reason. He says the so-called 'higher authority' should have been named and that his client will file a lawsuit against the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister, besides a compensation lawsuit for damages.
In an aired interview with Coptic News Bulletin on September 17, Maher El Gowhary said "The authorities are trying to pressure us [he and his daughter] to convert back to Islam, but this will never happen, even if we have to live on the streets. We love our Lord Jesus, and we have left Islam for good."
On August 4, 2008, after 34 years of practicing Christianity, 57-year-old Maher El-Gohary, whose Christian name is Peter Athanasius, filed the second ever lawsuit of a Muslim-born Egyptian against the Egyptian Government to officially alter his identification documents to reflect his new Christian identity. He lost the case on June 13, 2009 (6-16-2009). Although the verdict is on appeal, he said this usually takes years before being brought to the courts. However, he insists that if he does not win his case in Egypt, he will take it to international courts.
Maher and Dina have been living in hiding ever since he filed his lawsuit, Muslim radicals have called him an apostate and several calls for 'spilling his blood' have been issued. He has to change frequently where he lives, to evade being killed, and friends supply him with food. "We cannot sleep, eat or go out in the street. What have my daughter and I done? we have just filed a lawsuit to get out rights, so why are they holding us against our will?"
He went on to say, "I filed a lawsuit to get my Christian details recorded on my ID, I asked for the same treatment as the Baha'is who could be issued ID cards that didn't identify them by religion. I was refused because I am a Christian." He said that Baha'is are protected by the government, unlike converts to Christianity, who are left on purpose by the government to fend for themselves, in order to be killed. "The State Security incites drug dealers to kill us, as they give them the impression that we are working for police investigations as spies on them. They tried to kill us on several occasions."
"If they give Muslim-born Christians the right to change, I can assure you, that all of Egypt will convert to Christianity." He went on to relate in the Coptic News interview that during the hearings of his lawsuit, Muslim lawyers warned the presiding judge, Hamdi Yassin, that if he allows a change in Maher's case, this would "open the gates of Hell on them," meaning a torrent of Muslims converting to Christianity.
The number of Muslim-born converts to Christianity in Egypt, who are keeping their faith secret, has reached several million. Due to the State Security's persecution, torture and rape, they have established outside Egypt an organization called "Freed by Christ" as well as "Way TV" to speak on their behalf to the West, and expose their sufferings at the hands of State Security. It is headed by the Christian convert Dr. Mohamad Rahouna, ex-dean of the Faculty of Arabic Studies, Minya University, who fled to the United States.
"We, the Christian converts are treated worst than animals. I was able to travel freely before filing the lawsuit," El-Gowhary said "I filed the case for the sake of other converts, who have become tremendous in number, all living underground, among whom there are young girls who will never be able to get married unless a change happens. Personally, I would not benefit out of the lawsuit, but I wanted to get some development in this problem."
Portraying their dire situation he said: "If we forge our documents we are imprisoned, if we file a lawsuit we lose the case and they persecute us. What should we do?" El-Gowhary said.
On September 22, El-Gowhary and his daughter made another attempt to travel to China, but he was again stopped from leaving the country. "I had to make sure that I was really barred from traveling, because I was told nothing officially," he said.
"I really don't know where to go now, our location has now been revealed. I feel so sorry for my daughter, such a young girl staying at home all the time," he said "They will never let us leave and they will never have mercy on us. Our only chance of getting out of the country, is by obtaining a foreign passport."
El-Gowhary believes that external pressure on Egypt would be the best means to achieve any rights for Muslim-born converts to Christianity.
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) in co-ordination with The United Copts GB, submitted to the UN Human Right Council in its 12th session (September 14 to October 2, 2009) a paper titled "Religious discrimination against converts to Christianity in Egypt," criticizing Egypt and specifically citing the case of El-Gowhary as an example. IHEU calls for all states to eliminate laws which require citizens to specify their religion on official documents and to permit all citizens to freely change their religion or belief without discrimination. It also calls on OIC member states in particular to end discrimination against non Muslims.
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090925191939.htm
(AINA) -- Egyptian authorities have prevented Maher El-Gowhary, a Muslim-born Christian convert, from leaving the country. He was detained at Cairo Airport. His passport confiscated and he was advised that he is barred from traveling on orders from a 'higher authority'.
Maher and his 15-year-old daughter, Dina, who also embraced Christianity, were traveling to China on 17th September 2009, on a two-week holiday.
Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts GB, who spoke with El-Gowhary during his detainment at the airport, said that Maher was treated very badly by airport security, and was told of his travel ban "less than an hour before departure."
Human rights lawyer Nabil Ghobrial joined Maher at the airport. He filed an incident report at the airport police station. According to Ghobrial it is against the law to prevent a citizen from traveling unless there is a legal reason. He says the so-called 'higher authority' should have been named and that his client will file a lawsuit against the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister, besides a compensation lawsuit for damages.
In an aired interview with Coptic News Bulletin on September 17, Maher El Gowhary said "The authorities are trying to pressure us [he and his daughter] to convert back to Islam, but this will never happen, even if we have to live on the streets. We love our Lord Jesus, and we have left Islam for good."
On August 4, 2008, after 34 years of practicing Christianity, 57-year-old Maher El-Gohary, whose Christian name is Peter Athanasius, filed the second ever lawsuit of a Muslim-born Egyptian against the Egyptian Government to officially alter his identification documents to reflect his new Christian identity. He lost the case on June 13, 2009 (6-16-2009). Although the verdict is on appeal, he said this usually takes years before being brought to the courts. However, he insists that if he does not win his case in Egypt, he will take it to international courts.
Maher and Dina have been living in hiding ever since he filed his lawsuit, Muslim radicals have called him an apostate and several calls for 'spilling his blood' have been issued. He has to change frequently where he lives, to evade being killed, and friends supply him with food. "We cannot sleep, eat or go out in the street. What have my daughter and I done? we have just filed a lawsuit to get out rights, so why are they holding us against our will?"
He went on to say, "I filed a lawsuit to get my Christian details recorded on my ID, I asked for the same treatment as the Baha'is who could be issued ID cards that didn't identify them by religion. I was refused because I am a Christian." He said that Baha'is are protected by the government, unlike converts to Christianity, who are left on purpose by the government to fend for themselves, in order to be killed. "The State Security incites drug dealers to kill us, as they give them the impression that we are working for police investigations as spies on them. They tried to kill us on several occasions."
"If they give Muslim-born Christians the right to change, I can assure you, that all of Egypt will convert to Christianity." He went on to relate in the Coptic News interview that during the hearings of his lawsuit, Muslim lawyers warned the presiding judge, Hamdi Yassin, that if he allows a change in Maher's case, this would "open the gates of Hell on them," meaning a torrent of Muslims converting to Christianity.
The number of Muslim-born converts to Christianity in Egypt, who are keeping their faith secret, has reached several million. Due to the State Security's persecution, torture and rape, they have established outside Egypt an organization called "Freed by Christ" as well as "Way TV" to speak on their behalf to the West, and expose their sufferings at the hands of State Security. It is headed by the Christian convert Dr. Mohamad Rahouna, ex-dean of the Faculty of Arabic Studies, Minya University, who fled to the United States.
"We, the Christian converts are treated worst than animals. I was able to travel freely before filing the lawsuit," El-Gowhary said "I filed the case for the sake of other converts, who have become tremendous in number, all living underground, among whom there are young girls who will never be able to get married unless a change happens. Personally, I would not benefit out of the lawsuit, but I wanted to get some development in this problem."
Portraying their dire situation he said: "If we forge our documents we are imprisoned, if we file a lawsuit we lose the case and they persecute us. What should we do?" El-Gowhary said.
On September 22, El-Gowhary and his daughter made another attempt to travel to China, but he was again stopped from leaving the country. "I had to make sure that I was really barred from traveling, because I was told nothing officially," he said.
"I really don't know where to go now, our location has now been revealed. I feel so sorry for my daughter, such a young girl staying at home all the time," he said "They will never let us leave and they will never have mercy on us. Our only chance of getting out of the country, is by obtaining a foreign passport."
El-Gowhary believes that external pressure on Egypt would be the best means to achieve any rights for Muslim-born converts to Christianity.
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) in co-ordination with The United Copts GB, submitted to the UN Human Right Council in its 12th session (September 14 to October 2, 2009) a paper titled "Religious discrimination against converts to Christianity in Egypt," criticizing Egypt and specifically citing the case of El-Gowhary as an example. IHEU calls for all states to eliminate laws which require citizens to specify their religion on official documents and to permit all citizens to freely change their religion or belief without discrimination. It also calls on OIC member states in particular to end discrimination against non Muslims.
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090925191939.htm
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
After uproar , unesco Rejects Egyptian
الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه national american coptic assembly washingtonDC Mr. Morris Sadek-ESQ President visit&watch our website http://www.nationalamericancopticassembly.webs.com/ http://nacopticas1.blogspot.com/ http://nacopts1.blogspot.com/
After Uproar, Unesco Rejects Egyptian
A Bulgarian diplomat, Irina Bokova, was elected Tuesday night as the new director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. She defeated the Egyptian culture minister, Farouk Hosny, by a vote of 31 to 27 in a fifth and final
Her victory was a bitter defeat for Egypt and its president, Hosni Mubarak, who tried to line up the 30 votes of the Unesco executive board in advance to ensure a first-round victory in an initial field of nine candidates. But Mr. Hosny, 71, was accused of anti-Semitism and censorship in his 22 years as culture minister,
One person close to the proceedings said that Spain and Italy had shifted their votes after learning new information about what is alleged to have been Mr. Hosny’s role, as an Egyptian diplomat, in protecting the perpetrators of a terrorist act involving an Italian cruise ship in 1985, but that could not be confirmed Tuesday night. The person spoke anonymously because of the delicacy of the matter.
According to an account on Saturday on Elaph.com, an Arabic-language Web site, Mr. Hosny boasted of helping to organize the escape from Italy in 1985 of the hijackers of the cruise ship, the Achille Lauro. In that episode, a retired American Jewish tourist in a wheelchair was shot and pushed into the sea, horrifying much of the world.
Mr. Hosny was also on the defensive for a comment he made in the Egyptian Parliament last year. Accused of being too soft on Israel, he said that he would personally burn any Israeli book found in the Alexandria library,
By STEVEN ERLANGER -
Minister Hosni who is Egyptian has proven to be extremely lackadaisical about all Coptic monuments and His New law manuscripts through the incarceration of intellectuals and against ancient coptic manuscriptss.
In the run-up to the vote, Egyptian newspapers carried stories of a "conspiracy" against Hosny's candidacy by the United States and certain European countries, with the help of the "Zionist lobby."
Many Egyptians saw the opposition to Hosny as anti-Egyptian and anti-Muslims.
"There was so much pressure from Europe and America against him and it is sad that a small country like Israel has been able to control so many powerful countries from the West," Salah Eissa, a prominent intellectual and editor of the cultural weekly "Al-Qahira" told The Associated Press.
A few Egyptians, however, have spoken out against Hosny's candidacy, describing him as the product of a dictatorship and responsible for stifling the cultural scene in Egypt.
ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
The Washington Post
and our national american coptic assembly say s that is true and this result product from violent & discrimination from moubark Regim against copts
After Uproar, Unesco Rejects Egyptian
A Bulgarian diplomat, Irina Bokova, was elected Tuesday night as the new director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. She defeated the Egyptian culture minister, Farouk Hosny, by a vote of 31 to 27 in a fifth and final
Her victory was a bitter defeat for Egypt and its president, Hosni Mubarak, who tried to line up the 30 votes of the Unesco executive board in advance to ensure a first-round victory in an initial field of nine candidates. But Mr. Hosny, 71, was accused of anti-Semitism and censorship in his 22 years as culture minister,
One person close to the proceedings said that Spain and Italy had shifted their votes after learning new information about what is alleged to have been Mr. Hosny’s role, as an Egyptian diplomat, in protecting the perpetrators of a terrorist act involving an Italian cruise ship in 1985, but that could not be confirmed Tuesday night. The person spoke anonymously because of the delicacy of the matter.
According to an account on Saturday on Elaph.com, an Arabic-language Web site, Mr. Hosny boasted of helping to organize the escape from Italy in 1985 of the hijackers of the cruise ship, the Achille Lauro. In that episode, a retired American Jewish tourist in a wheelchair was shot and pushed into the sea, horrifying much of the world.
Mr. Hosny was also on the defensive for a comment he made in the Egyptian Parliament last year. Accused of being too soft on Israel, he said that he would personally burn any Israeli book found in the Alexandria library,
By STEVEN ERLANGER -
Minister Hosni who is Egyptian has proven to be extremely lackadaisical about all Coptic monuments and His New law manuscripts through the incarceration of intellectuals and against ancient coptic manuscriptss.
In the run-up to the vote, Egyptian newspapers carried stories of a "conspiracy" against Hosny's candidacy by the United States and certain European countries, with the help of the "Zionist lobby."
Many Egyptians saw the opposition to Hosny as anti-Egyptian and anti-Muslims.
"There was so much pressure from Europe and America against him and it is sad that a small country like Israel has been able to control so many powerful countries from the West," Salah Eissa, a prominent intellectual and editor of the cultural weekly "Al-Qahira" told The Associated Press.
A few Egyptians, however, have spoken out against Hosny's candidacy, describing him as the product of a dictatorship and responsible for stifling the cultural scene in Egypt.
ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
The Washington Post
and our national american coptic assembly say s that is true and this result product from violent & discrimination from moubark Regim against copts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
muslim man beheads christian in Egypt
Muslim Man Beheads Christian in Egypt
(AINA) -- Osama Araban, a Muslim man riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, went on a rampage last week in Egypt, killing 63-year old Coptic Christian Abdo George Younan, in the village of Bagour, before traveling onwards and stabbing with intention to kill two other Copts in two different villages, at least 10 km apart (AINA 9-18-2009).
In the village of Behnay he repeatedly stabbed Coptic shoemaker Adib Boulos before being stopped by eyewitness Behman Saeed, after whom Osama Araban ran, leaving the victim behind. Adib suffered a broken scull and lung hemorrhage, and is still fighting for his life in intensive care unit at Shebin el-Kom Hospital.
Osama Araban then traveled to the village of Mit Afif and stabbed his third victim, Sobhy Barsum, a blacksmith. He also stabbed his brother Hani Barsum in the neck -- only to be saved by a co-worker. Hani was also hospitalized.
Osama Araban was arrested the following day.
The funeral procession of Abdo Younan was attended by thousands of Copts, led by Metropolitan Archbishop Benjamin of Menoufia Diocese and seventeen clergymen. Hundreds of banners were held, showing the amount of anger and injustice felt by Copts. Anti State Security chants were heard during the procession, besides calling on President Mubarak and the government to save the Copts from the hands of the fundamentalist who are killing them.
This incident which took place on September 16, 2009, has left Copts in Egypt shocked and angered, not only because attacks against Copts have been escalating, but because of the way the murder was committed.
The details of the attacks, not told by the media, but exposed by Coptic lawyers and activists, reveal that 35-year old car painter Osama Araban not only stabbed Abdo nine times but also severed his head from his body -- an Islamic ritual beheading. He then meticulously washed his bayonet with the water hose the victim was using, before setting off on his motorcycle to the next two villages, looking for more Coptic victims.
Egyptian State Security, which is in charge of drafting press releases and news related to Muslim attacks on Christians, decided from the start which route they wanted the incident to take, and tailor the news accordingly.
In an attempt to influence public opinion for the forthcoming acquittal of the Muslim killer, the media reported that the reason for the killing was a "material dispute."
Renowned attorney and activist Dr.Naguib Ghoraeel, head of Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization, issued a press release on September 17, calling the crime a massacre, and confirming that what happened was revenge against Christians. He accused the Interior Ministry of lying I suggesting the incident "is a mere quarrel," and warned them that no one will believe that the murderer is "mentally unstable," should they use this defense.
Ghoraeel accused the police of seriously tampering with evidence, by insisting on the body being removed by ambulance. "Investigators came to a scene without a body, and then went to inspect the body in another place," he said.
Many lawyers believe that this step was taken in order to reduce the judicial verdict down to manslaughter.
According to Copts United Advocacy, Reverend Estephanos Azer, the priest at St. Serapium Church in neighboring Shebin el Kom, condemned the authorities and media fabrications when dealing with cases of Muslims killing Christians. He denied any financial dealings between the victim and his killer.
"I hope that the authorities would respect our intelligence. The media treats us as a herd of sheep. We refuse that completely. We have logic and can think." He went on to voice what all Copts are saying that with every attack on Copts, the incident has to have one of two scenarios: either the killer is "mentally deranged," or the incident is due to a "material dispute."
Taken the criticism the State Security received regarding their usual scenarios, they have now decided to take a completely different route, never used before. The pro-government newspaper "Youm 7" reported that Obdo Younan "Insulted Islam" and the killer therefore decided to take revenge by killing him. This news was picked up by other news agencies.
Following this murder, Coptic shopkeepers in Bagour, Manufiya province, north-west of Cairo, are terrified to open their shops. "I am a watchmaker, How can I work when I feel that if I look down, someone might jump on me and behead me," a shopkeeper told Free Copts.
George Abdo, son of the slain victim, believes that a radical Islamic organization is behind the incident. "For whose benefit is all this government misleading information?" he said, "we want justice nothing more." George said that by appeasing the radicals at the expense of the Copts, the government is giving them a green light to do as they please with the Copts. "Pressure on Copts will lead to explosion sooner or later. We are unable to live this way; we have nothing to loose," he warned.
In an interview with Free Copts, lawyer activist Ashraf Ghobrial, one of the organizers of the Coptic National Strike on September 11, called on President Mubarak to personally intervene to ensure the safety of Coptic citizens. He said "I am saying there must be someone behind the killer. We ask the State Security to look for the terrorist cell behind him. If they don't, this incident will happen again and again, in different parts of the country. We want the State Security to protect us, all what they do is spy on us."
No Muslim has ever been sentenced justly for killing a Copt. Consequently, the Egyptian Government's manipulation of facts is not to save the Copt's murderer from a just punishment, but more to save its face in front of the Western world for being blatantly unjust towards the Coptic victim, given that Egypt is a member of the UN Human Rights Council which is responsible for the protection of human rights around the globe.
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090921172742.htm
(AINA) -- Osama Araban, a Muslim man riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, went on a rampage last week in Egypt, killing 63-year old Coptic Christian Abdo George Younan, in the village of Bagour, before traveling onwards and stabbing with intention to kill two other Copts in two different villages, at least 10 km apart (AINA 9-18-2009).
In the village of Behnay he repeatedly stabbed Coptic shoemaker Adib Boulos before being stopped by eyewitness Behman Saeed, after whom Osama Araban ran, leaving the victim behind. Adib suffered a broken scull and lung hemorrhage, and is still fighting for his life in intensive care unit at Shebin el-Kom Hospital.
Osama Araban then traveled to the village of Mit Afif and stabbed his third victim, Sobhy Barsum, a blacksmith. He also stabbed his brother Hani Barsum in the neck -- only to be saved by a co-worker. Hani was also hospitalized.
Osama Araban was arrested the following day.
The funeral procession of Abdo Younan was attended by thousands of Copts, led by Metropolitan Archbishop Benjamin of Menoufia Diocese and seventeen clergymen. Hundreds of banners were held, showing the amount of anger and injustice felt by Copts. Anti State Security chants were heard during the procession, besides calling on President Mubarak and the government to save the Copts from the hands of the fundamentalist who are killing them.
This incident which took place on September 16, 2009, has left Copts in Egypt shocked and angered, not only because attacks against Copts have been escalating, but because of the way the murder was committed.
The details of the attacks, not told by the media, but exposed by Coptic lawyers and activists, reveal that 35-year old car painter Osama Araban not only stabbed Abdo nine times but also severed his head from his body -- an Islamic ritual beheading. He then meticulously washed his bayonet with the water hose the victim was using, before setting off on his motorcycle to the next two villages, looking for more Coptic victims.
Egyptian State Security, which is in charge of drafting press releases and news related to Muslim attacks on Christians, decided from the start which route they wanted the incident to take, and tailor the news accordingly.
In an attempt to influence public opinion for the forthcoming acquittal of the Muslim killer, the media reported that the reason for the killing was a "material dispute."
Renowned attorney and activist Dr.Naguib Ghoraeel, head of Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization, issued a press release on September 17, calling the crime a massacre, and confirming that what happened was revenge against Christians. He accused the Interior Ministry of lying I suggesting the incident "is a mere quarrel," and warned them that no one will believe that the murderer is "mentally unstable," should they use this defense.
Ghoraeel accused the police of seriously tampering with evidence, by insisting on the body being removed by ambulance. "Investigators came to a scene without a body, and then went to inspect the body in another place," he said.
Many lawyers believe that this step was taken in order to reduce the judicial verdict down to manslaughter.
According to Copts United Advocacy, Reverend Estephanos Azer, the priest at St. Serapium Church in neighboring Shebin el Kom, condemned the authorities and media fabrications when dealing with cases of Muslims killing Christians. He denied any financial dealings between the victim and his killer.
"I hope that the authorities would respect our intelligence. The media treats us as a herd of sheep. We refuse that completely. We have logic and can think." He went on to voice what all Copts are saying that with every attack on Copts, the incident has to have one of two scenarios: either the killer is "mentally deranged," or the incident is due to a "material dispute."
Taken the criticism the State Security received regarding their usual scenarios, they have now decided to take a completely different route, never used before. The pro-government newspaper "Youm 7" reported that Obdo Younan "Insulted Islam" and the killer therefore decided to take revenge by killing him. This news was picked up by other news agencies.
Following this murder, Coptic shopkeepers in Bagour, Manufiya province, north-west of Cairo, are terrified to open their shops. "I am a watchmaker, How can I work when I feel that if I look down, someone might jump on me and behead me," a shopkeeper told Free Copts.
George Abdo, son of the slain victim, believes that a radical Islamic organization is behind the incident. "For whose benefit is all this government misleading information?" he said, "we want justice nothing more." George said that by appeasing the radicals at the expense of the Copts, the government is giving them a green light to do as they please with the Copts. "Pressure on Copts will lead to explosion sooner or later. We are unable to live this way; we have nothing to loose," he warned.
In an interview with Free Copts, lawyer activist Ashraf Ghobrial, one of the organizers of the Coptic National Strike on September 11, called on President Mubarak to personally intervene to ensure the safety of Coptic citizens. He said "I am saying there must be someone behind the killer. We ask the State Security to look for the terrorist cell behind him. If they don't, this incident will happen again and again, in different parts of the country. We want the State Security to protect us, all what they do is spy on us."
No Muslim has ever been sentenced justly for killing a Copt. Consequently, the Egyptian Government's manipulation of facts is not to save the Copt's murderer from a just punishment, but more to save its face in front of the Western world for being blatantly unjust towards the Coptic victim, given that Egypt is a member of the UN Human Rights Council which is responsible for the protection of human rights around the globe.
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090921172742.htm
Friday, September 18, 2009
Egyptian Christian Girl Abducted to Force 'Reconciliation' in Murdered Brother's Case
Egyptian Christian Girl Abducted to Force 'Reconciliation' in Murdered Brother's Case
Egypt (AINA) -- Amal Estephanos, a 19 year old Catholic Copt, was abducted in broad daylight on Saturday 12th September 2009, by a Muslim to force her father to accept reconciliation with the families of the Muslim murderers of his son Amir Stephanos.
In an interview with Osama Eid of Free Copts, Estephanos said his daughter Amal was kidnapped by the ?unemployed worker Ibrahim Ali Negm, after she was drugged and bundled into a pickup truck, with the assistance of village strangers. She was taken to Aswan City, to be forced to convert to Islam. This abduction was witnessed by several people..
Estephanos said the State Security has pressuring him to accept taking part in a "reconciliation session" with the family of the murderers, which he adamantly refuses. "With this abduction, they want to humiliate me, and force me to cave in to their reconciliation efforts," he told Free Copts.
He appealed to President Mubarak saying "I want my daughter back. It is enough what happened to my son Amir, whose blood is not yet dry."
Reports from Hegaza village indicate that Amal is in Aswan with one of the organizations specializing in forced Islamization of Copts, and that she may have been raped.
Free Copts reported that State Security is detaining the abductor's family until the Amal has been released. This unusual State Security assistance is possibly due to the intervention of Abdel-Rady Araby, member of the Egyptian Shura (Advisory) Council. He told Free Copts on 16th September 2009 that Amal's abduction was a "blow to his efforts of reconciliation" between the families. He said that he had arranged for a 'reconciliation meeting' to be held on Monday 14th September only to learn that the abduction took place just two days before.
Amal, who lives in the village of Hegaza, Qus, Qena Governorate, which lies 600 km south of Cairo, is the youngest sister of Amir Estephanos (22), who was murdered together with his friend Adib Hedra Soliman (22) on April 18, 2009, after attending a worship service on Easter Eve at the nearby St. Boktor's Monastery. They were intercepted by members of a Muslim family who had a blood feud with his friend Adib's family since 2004. Amir Stephanos was not involved in the feud but still he was executed by the firing squad. They received 70 bullets to the head and body. A third Christian who was also with them, Mina Samir was seriously injured, and subsequently lost an arm and a leg as a result of the shootings.
The four accused Muslims, including two brothers involved in the family feud, were referred to the Criminal Court of Qena, which began its hearings on June 29, 2009.
The Estephanos tragedy began again, after renewed pressure from the State Security to effect a reconciliation, following the intervention of Shura member Abdel-Rady Araby.
Coptic families of the murdered were threatened with deportation by Security.
The blood feud between the Muslim Mohamed Saeed family and the Christian Soliman family goes back to the 6th November 2004, when the two families had a brawl in the village market, leaving Mohamed Saeed (58 years) dead after receiving a blow on the head with a stick.
The events which followed that brawl and the unjust consequences for the Copts in Hegaza, is still vivid in the memory of many Copts.
"In spite of the overwhelming majority of villagers blaming the death of Mohammed Saeed on a relative of his called Abdel Qader Ibrahim, and his brother Noubi, the police decided to accuse the Copts Saleeb, Gamal, and Mounir Adeeb Soliman. Meanwhile, the accusations against the Ibrahim brothers were never investigated," said human rights activist Hala elMasry, who is also a local inhabitant. A sentence of 3 years imprisonment was passed on each of the accused Copt for manslaughter.
In order to please the family of the murdered Muslim, the State Security together with elders of four families in Hegaza decided in a 'reconciliation session' to deport from the village, seventeen Coptic families who are related to the three convicted Copts. A total of 122 Copts left their village, carrying only their personal belongings, leaving behind their homes, fields, businesses and livelihood.
The displaced Coptic families of Higaza are still living away from their homes and still are banned from returning back, five years later.
What brought about the Easter Eve 2009 murders, according to researchers from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), was that some members of two of the Christian families displaced in 2004, have returned to Hegaza village on the day of the murders to bury one of their relatives in the village cemeteries. One of the murdered, Adib, was the youngest brother of one of the convicted Copts in the 2004 incident.
Among the main Coptic demands, besides the ratification of a law regulating building houses of worship, is the abolition of the unofficial "reconciliation sessions," forced by State Security, which always end up by the Coptic side giving up their right to pursue criminal charges, allowing the Muslim perpetrator to literally "get away with murder."
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090917144610.htm
Egypt (AINA) -- Amal Estephanos, a 19 year old Catholic Copt, was abducted in broad daylight on Saturday 12th September 2009, by a Muslim to force her father to accept reconciliation with the families of the Muslim murderers of his son Amir Stephanos.
In an interview with Osama Eid of Free Copts, Estephanos said his daughter Amal was kidnapped by the ?unemployed worker Ibrahim Ali Negm, after she was drugged and bundled into a pickup truck, with the assistance of village strangers. She was taken to Aswan City, to be forced to convert to Islam. This abduction was witnessed by several people..
Estephanos said the State Security has pressuring him to accept taking part in a "reconciliation session" with the family of the murderers, which he adamantly refuses. "With this abduction, they want to humiliate me, and force me to cave in to their reconciliation efforts," he told Free Copts.
He appealed to President Mubarak saying "I want my daughter back. It is enough what happened to my son Amir, whose blood is not yet dry."
Reports from Hegaza village indicate that Amal is in Aswan with one of the organizations specializing in forced Islamization of Copts, and that she may have been raped.
Free Copts reported that State Security is detaining the abductor's family until the Amal has been released. This unusual State Security assistance is possibly due to the intervention of Abdel-Rady Araby, member of the Egyptian Shura (Advisory) Council. He told Free Copts on 16th September 2009 that Amal's abduction was a "blow to his efforts of reconciliation" between the families. He said that he had arranged for a 'reconciliation meeting' to be held on Monday 14th September only to learn that the abduction took place just two days before.
Amal, who lives in the village of Hegaza, Qus, Qena Governorate, which lies 600 km south of Cairo, is the youngest sister of Amir Estephanos (22), who was murdered together with his friend Adib Hedra Soliman (22) on April 18, 2009, after attending a worship service on Easter Eve at the nearby St. Boktor's Monastery. They were intercepted by members of a Muslim family who had a blood feud with his friend Adib's family since 2004. Amir Stephanos was not involved in the feud but still he was executed by the firing squad. They received 70 bullets to the head and body. A third Christian who was also with them, Mina Samir was seriously injured, and subsequently lost an arm and a leg as a result of the shootings.
The four accused Muslims, including two brothers involved in the family feud, were referred to the Criminal Court of Qena, which began its hearings on June 29, 2009.
The Estephanos tragedy began again, after renewed pressure from the State Security to effect a reconciliation, following the intervention of Shura member Abdel-Rady Araby.
Coptic families of the murdered were threatened with deportation by Security.
The blood feud between the Muslim Mohamed Saeed family and the Christian Soliman family goes back to the 6th November 2004, when the two families had a brawl in the village market, leaving Mohamed Saeed (58 years) dead after receiving a blow on the head with a stick.
The events which followed that brawl and the unjust consequences for the Copts in Hegaza, is still vivid in the memory of many Copts.
"In spite of the overwhelming majority of villagers blaming the death of Mohammed Saeed on a relative of his called Abdel Qader Ibrahim, and his brother Noubi, the police decided to accuse the Copts Saleeb, Gamal, and Mounir Adeeb Soliman. Meanwhile, the accusations against the Ibrahim brothers were never investigated," said human rights activist Hala elMasry, who is also a local inhabitant. A sentence of 3 years imprisonment was passed on each of the accused Copt for manslaughter.
In order to please the family of the murdered Muslim, the State Security together with elders of four families in Hegaza decided in a 'reconciliation session' to deport from the village, seventeen Coptic families who are related to the three convicted Copts. A total of 122 Copts left their village, carrying only their personal belongings, leaving behind their homes, fields, businesses and livelihood.
The displaced Coptic families of Higaza are still living away from their homes and still are banned from returning back, five years later.
What brought about the Easter Eve 2009 murders, according to researchers from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), was that some members of two of the Christian families displaced in 2004, have returned to Hegaza village on the day of the murders to bury one of their relatives in the village cemeteries. One of the murdered, Adib, was the youngest brother of one of the convicted Copts in the 2004 incident.
Among the main Coptic demands, besides the ratification of a law regulating building houses of worship, is the abolition of the unofficial "reconciliation sessions," forced by State Security, which always end up by the Coptic side giving up their right to pursue criminal charges, allowing the Muslim perpetrator to literally "get away with murder."
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090917144610.htm
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
EGYPT: Thousands of Christians gather to pray for equality in a Muslim land
EGYPT: Thousands of Christians gather to pray for equality in a Muslim land
Written by Amro Hassan
Los Angeles Times14 September 2009
Friday's gathering at Father Kyrillos' church
Around 7,000 Coptic Christians gathered at the Father Kyrillos church on the outskirts of Cairo to pray for an end to "discriminaton" during the celebration of the Egyptian Coptic New Year this weekend.
The gathering Friday came after calls by a number of Coptic organizations to abandon this year's celebrations as a protest against the perceived oppression of Christians in Egypt were met by deaf ears. Thousands of Copts attended ceremonial masses on the same day.
But groups like Youth Against Discrimination and Copts United for Egypt urged Copts to show anger by declaring Sept. 11 -- Coptic New Year -- a general sit-in for Christians throughout the country.
They asked people not to attend New Year masses, to stay home all day and wear all-black outfits in addition to decorating their windows with black flags.
While the Coptic Orthodox Church, headed by Pope Shenouda III, rejected such a protest, claiming that the Coptic New Year is a religious occasion that should never be politically orientated, priest Metias Nasr of Father Kyrillos' church said that the gathering was arranged to show solidarity with the Christian groups' demands.
"We are not here to support any sit-ins or strikes. We are here to call for the same demands those groups based the idea of a general protest on," Nasr said. "All our grievances are legitimate enough to start a sit-in, but we have never discussed such possibility."
The attending crowd carried signs with slogans asking the government to issue a uniform law for building worship houses and condemning what they called the forceful conversion of Coptic minors to Islam.
"Copts have been silent about violations to their rights for so long, but now it is time to speak out," said Rami Kamel, general coordinator of Youth Against Discrimination.
"Solving Copts' problems in Egypt will be the country's only way of ever reaching democracy," Kamel added.
Copts form around 10% of Egypt's population of nearly 80 million. Sunni Islam is the country's main religion
To see more picture
click& watch
بالصور.. كاهن كنيسة العذراء بعزبة النخل يحول صلاة عيد "النيروز" إلى مظاهرة دينية للمطالبة بعدم خطف القاصرات
Written by Amro Hassan
Los Angeles Times14 September 2009
Friday's gathering at Father Kyrillos' church
Around 7,000 Coptic Christians gathered at the Father Kyrillos church on the outskirts of Cairo to pray for an end to "discriminaton" during the celebration of the Egyptian Coptic New Year this weekend.
The gathering Friday came after calls by a number of Coptic organizations to abandon this year's celebrations as a protest against the perceived oppression of Christians in Egypt were met by deaf ears. Thousands of Copts attended ceremonial masses on the same day.
But groups like Youth Against Discrimination and Copts United for Egypt urged Copts to show anger by declaring Sept. 11 -- Coptic New Year -- a general sit-in for Christians throughout the country.
They asked people not to attend New Year masses, to stay home all day and wear all-black outfits in addition to decorating their windows with black flags.
While the Coptic Orthodox Church, headed by Pope Shenouda III, rejected such a protest, claiming that the Coptic New Year is a religious occasion that should never be politically orientated, priest Metias Nasr of Father Kyrillos' church said that the gathering was arranged to show solidarity with the Christian groups' demands.
"We are not here to support any sit-ins or strikes. We are here to call for the same demands those groups based the idea of a general protest on," Nasr said. "All our grievances are legitimate enough to start a sit-in, but we have never discussed such possibility."
The attending crowd carried signs with slogans asking the government to issue a uniform law for building worship houses and condemning what they called the forceful conversion of Coptic minors to Islam.
"Copts have been silent about violations to their rights for so long, but now it is time to speak out," said Rami Kamel, general coordinator of Youth Against Discrimination.
"Solving Copts' problems in Egypt will be the country's only way of ever reaching democracy," Kamel added.
Copts form around 10% of Egypt's population of nearly 80 million. Sunni Islam is the country's main religion
To see more picture
click& watch
بالصور.. كاهن كنيسة العذراء بعزبة النخل يحول صلاة عيد "النيروز" إلى مظاهرة دينية للمطالبة بعدم خطف القاصرات
A Positive Message of Human Rights and Freedom
by D. L. Adams
Today’s unpleasant events in Harrow/London, UK are instructive to all of us who support freedom and oppose the totalitarian barbarism of political Islam. Those who attended the SIOE demonstration in Harrow today are to be applauded and supported. We wish all of our friends and colleagues in Europe well and support them entirely in their fight for their cultures and freedoms against the rapid encroachment of Islamization there.
Video
Things are very bad for liberty and freedom in Europe today. Things are so bad in Europe in fact that those who love liberty and want to protect it from the advancement of an anti-liberty intolerant ideology of conquest and barbarism (Islam) feel that they have no option but to “take to the barricades”.
The hour is late in Europe as Islamic immigration is unfettered and Islamists publicly proclaim hatred for the host cultures and their desires to see them replaced with Sharia Law Islamic states. There are few who defend Europe’s shores, and fewer still who understand the dangers that Islam presents to European freedoms and religions.
The growth of Islam in the last three decades in Europe now has sparked a crisis there which is existential. Islam and its adherents have a specific agenda that, like everything else relating to Islam, originates in the doctrine of Islam; Koran, Sira, and Hadith.
Those who have read these texts and see daily jihad across the world and see the appalling atrocities wrought by Islam (9/11, Mumbai, London, Madrid, Paris, Israel, Iraq, Beslan, Bali, Kenya, etc., ad infinitum) know that Europe’s existence as a conglomeration of free countries is at risk. They (SIOE and other defenders of freedom across the continent) rise in defense of their freedoms and their countries doing honor to their heritage and heroes who fought similar battles against the very same or similar enemies of freedom and decency and humanity.
Today’s events in Harrow and the media’s opposition to our cause of defense of freedom and opposition to totalitarianism (masquerading as a fake “religion of peace”) shows that the value of this kind of direct action may be overstated. There are several reasons for this.
The bias of the media causes journalists (an entirely failed profession) to have a predilection to support Islam which they see as a “religion” under assault. They make the mistaken leap of thinking that because Islam is a “religion”that, because they (the failed journalists) are proper multiculturalists who believe that all religions are of equivalent value, should be defended from criticism. After all “criticism” makes people upset, and multiculturalists don’t want to upset anybody.
In addition, and most importantly, journalists are as ignorant about Islam as most of the wider culture which they are supposed to serve; they are unaware that Islam is an entire civilization which includes politics, jurisprudence, and war, and is not just a fake peace “religion”. The unpleasant part which they are not aware of is that the totality of Islam is a sinister political ideology whose core purpose is conquest and expansion and the destruction of non-Muslim cultures, societies, religions and cultures everywhere and forever. This is not opinion or excessive rhetoric, this is the doctrine of Islam.
Jihad is at the center of Islamic doctrine. Jihad is an obligation for every “believer”. All Muslims must participate in jihad, non participation is apostasy. Islam has no tolerance for those who wish to leave the “religion of peace” or for those who do not follow the rules of Koran, Sira, and Hadith (the trilogy doctrine of Islam).
Allah and Mohammed hate the unbelievers; no unbeliever culture, religion, or state can be tolerated by Allah or Mohammed. Jihad is the responsibility of all Muslims to remove this offense from Allah and Mohammed. This is “fighting in Allah’s cause”. This phrase is mentioned almost 150 times in Koran; it is a central concept of Islam.
Most of the population of Europe and of the USA have not read the doctrinal texts of Islam and know nothing of current daily jihad attacks and atrocities, the history of jihad and its hundreds of millions of victims, or the doctrine of Islam which commands adherents to do jihad everywhere and forever until there are no unbelievers (kafirs) anywhere.
Because the population is ignorant of these central components of Islam they are opposed overwhelmingly to criticism of Islam.
This is cultural and national suicide; multicultural defenders of Islam are not aware that they are committing cultural and national suicide; when they become aware of this fact it may be too late to turn back from the edge of the cliff.
SIOA and SIOE are about freedom and human rights. We are about defense of our countries and people from the threat of totalitarianism and a political ideology (Islam) that overshadows even Nazism in its brutality, barbarism, and cruelty. We are patriots and lovers of humanity. The press do not see this, and cannot understand why such lovers of humanity would cause “controversy” (controversy is bad to multiculturalists because somebody may be offended) at a mosque in Harrow or anywhere else.
Because they do not understand perhaps it may be that we should change our approach a little bit.
While we certainly are in opposition to totalitarianism in all its forms we are also FOR freedom, tolerance, human rights, and moral and ethical rationalism that denies any supremacism anywhere. We are FOR much more than what we are against.
This is a positive message. It is our message of opposition to the cruelty and brutality and intolerance that is Islam but restated in a positive way to show people what we are FOR as well as what we are AGAINST. What we are FOR cannot be disputed by most decent people; what we are against most people do not understand.
Let us be certain to tell those who will listen what we are FOR and not spend all of our time on what we are AGAINST. We must make our message a positive message of human rights and support for freedom of the individual, religious freedom, equal rights for women, and tolerance for all those ideologies that are not supportive of our destruction (i.e., political Islam).
Our countrymen are ignorant about Islam and the dangers that it represents; we must teach them.
Our countrymen know nothing of the doctrine of Islam; we must explain it to them.
Our countrymen are not aware of the history of Islam and its 1400-year jihad against kafirs everywhere; we must show them.
Our countrymen do not know that Islam is much more than a religion; it is our duty to lay it all out and tell them about it.
We have a duty to our country and countrymen to tell them the truth about Islam.
We must help our legislators to understand the threat so that they can create new laws, and enforce those already on the books that condemn and ban totalitarianism in our society.
We are scholars and students of Islam, jihad, Islamic history, and present day events of jihad. We have knowledge and understanding that our countrymen do not – it is our duty and mission to share our knowledge so that our leaders and voters can make the right decisions in defense of our lands and people against a resurgent Islamic universal jihad.
We must build understanding and the political will to oppose the greatest propaganda machine in history and their lies and distortions about Islam.
We must support the innocent victims of jihad.
We must hold our societies morally and ethically accountable for their silence in the face of the appalling suffering caused by adherents of the political ideology of Islam who commit crimes against humanity within and without our borders almost every day based entirely on the commands of Allah and Mohammed as found in the doctrine of Islam.
We must be scholar/warriors; a new kind of soldier in the endless war against totalitarianism and brutality and hate.
Our hearts are with our friends in Europe and across the world as we fight to open the eyes of a sleeping sheep population as the wolf of Islam wrecks havoc among them.
Islam is so strong because we are so weak. We are so weak because we are ignorant. Those who are not ignorant will teach those who are. Ignorance will dissipate and Islam will retreat.
The ugly riot in Harrow today occurred because SIOE had planned a demonstration. The rioting was not done by SIOE participants or organizers. Organizers of SIOE promised a non-violent event, but other forces including supporters of Islam created the violence. SIOA is entirely non-violent as is SIOE. Our message of freedom, democracy and opposition to tyranny and totalitarianism is not one that the multiculturalists or the forces of Islamic supremacism want to hear.
A large public “prayer event” of Muslim “solidarity” is planned for the Capitol on September 25th. The organizers of this event are hoping for 50,000 Muslims to pray at the Capitol from 4am to 7pm. We will be there, too.
On September 25th, in Washington, DC, SIOA will participate in an event to show our support of human rights and freedom for all. We will be there along with other like-minded organizations and leaders. We will be there to show the American people that there is an alternative view to the lie of Islam as the so-called “religion of peace”. On this anniversary of 9/11 we must remember why 9/11 happened and honor our innocent dead by telling the truth about Islam.
We will be there in support of human rights. We will support our Constitution and explain to those who will listen that the doctrine of Islam is fundamentally opposed to our form of government and to democracy, and human rights and to say that we are guaranteed freedom of religion in the United States by our Constitution. Freedom of Religion means freedom to choose one’s own beliefs; one can join a religion or leave it. Islamic doctrine clearly states that those who leave Islam are to be killed.
We believe in freedom and oppose those who do not. We will educate the American people so that the myths and lies are broken and the truth of this ideology of misogyny, hate, conquest, and brutality is known to all.
Please help us with this event. We are all in this together and we are all fighting for the same cause – human rights and democratic freedoms. More information will be forthcoming in the next few days regarding time and specific place and speakers. We hope that hundreds of supporters of our cause of freedom and human rights will attend this event. If you cannot attend and if you agree with our message, please donate to help us defray costs.
Please donate to our cause. (Click “donate” in upper right of the main page of this site.)
The sheep now do not know the wolf, but they will.
Today’s unpleasant events in Harrow/London, UK are instructive to all of us who support freedom and oppose the totalitarian barbarism of political Islam. Those who attended the SIOE demonstration in Harrow today are to be applauded and supported. We wish all of our friends and colleagues in Europe well and support them entirely in their fight for their cultures and freedoms against the rapid encroachment of Islamization there.
Video
Things are very bad for liberty and freedom in Europe today. Things are so bad in Europe in fact that those who love liberty and want to protect it from the advancement of an anti-liberty intolerant ideology of conquest and barbarism (Islam) feel that they have no option but to “take to the barricades”.
The hour is late in Europe as Islamic immigration is unfettered and Islamists publicly proclaim hatred for the host cultures and their desires to see them replaced with Sharia Law Islamic states. There are few who defend Europe’s shores, and fewer still who understand the dangers that Islam presents to European freedoms and religions.
The growth of Islam in the last three decades in Europe now has sparked a crisis there which is existential. Islam and its adherents have a specific agenda that, like everything else relating to Islam, originates in the doctrine of Islam; Koran, Sira, and Hadith.
Those who have read these texts and see daily jihad across the world and see the appalling atrocities wrought by Islam (9/11, Mumbai, London, Madrid, Paris, Israel, Iraq, Beslan, Bali, Kenya, etc., ad infinitum) know that Europe’s existence as a conglomeration of free countries is at risk. They (SIOE and other defenders of freedom across the continent) rise in defense of their freedoms and their countries doing honor to their heritage and heroes who fought similar battles against the very same or similar enemies of freedom and decency and humanity.
Today’s events in Harrow and the media’s opposition to our cause of defense of freedom and opposition to totalitarianism (masquerading as a fake “religion of peace”) shows that the value of this kind of direct action may be overstated. There are several reasons for this.
The bias of the media causes journalists (an entirely failed profession) to have a predilection to support Islam which they see as a “religion” under assault. They make the mistaken leap of thinking that because Islam is a “religion”that, because they (the failed journalists) are proper multiculturalists who believe that all religions are of equivalent value, should be defended from criticism. After all “criticism” makes people upset, and multiculturalists don’t want to upset anybody.
In addition, and most importantly, journalists are as ignorant about Islam as most of the wider culture which they are supposed to serve; they are unaware that Islam is an entire civilization which includes politics, jurisprudence, and war, and is not just a fake peace “religion”. The unpleasant part which they are not aware of is that the totality of Islam is a sinister political ideology whose core purpose is conquest and expansion and the destruction of non-Muslim cultures, societies, religions and cultures everywhere and forever. This is not opinion or excessive rhetoric, this is the doctrine of Islam.
Jihad is at the center of Islamic doctrine. Jihad is an obligation for every “believer”. All Muslims must participate in jihad, non participation is apostasy. Islam has no tolerance for those who wish to leave the “religion of peace” or for those who do not follow the rules of Koran, Sira, and Hadith (the trilogy doctrine of Islam).
Allah and Mohammed hate the unbelievers; no unbeliever culture, religion, or state can be tolerated by Allah or Mohammed. Jihad is the responsibility of all Muslims to remove this offense from Allah and Mohammed. This is “fighting in Allah’s cause”. This phrase is mentioned almost 150 times in Koran; it is a central concept of Islam.
Most of the population of Europe and of the USA have not read the doctrinal texts of Islam and know nothing of current daily jihad attacks and atrocities, the history of jihad and its hundreds of millions of victims, or the doctrine of Islam which commands adherents to do jihad everywhere and forever until there are no unbelievers (kafirs) anywhere.
Because the population is ignorant of these central components of Islam they are opposed overwhelmingly to criticism of Islam.
This is cultural and national suicide; multicultural defenders of Islam are not aware that they are committing cultural and national suicide; when they become aware of this fact it may be too late to turn back from the edge of the cliff.
SIOA and SIOE are about freedom and human rights. We are about defense of our countries and people from the threat of totalitarianism and a political ideology (Islam) that overshadows even Nazism in its brutality, barbarism, and cruelty. We are patriots and lovers of humanity. The press do not see this, and cannot understand why such lovers of humanity would cause “controversy” (controversy is bad to multiculturalists because somebody may be offended) at a mosque in Harrow or anywhere else.
Because they do not understand perhaps it may be that we should change our approach a little bit.
While we certainly are in opposition to totalitarianism in all its forms we are also FOR freedom, tolerance, human rights, and moral and ethical rationalism that denies any supremacism anywhere. We are FOR much more than what we are against.
This is a positive message. It is our message of opposition to the cruelty and brutality and intolerance that is Islam but restated in a positive way to show people what we are FOR as well as what we are AGAINST. What we are FOR cannot be disputed by most decent people; what we are against most people do not understand.
Let us be certain to tell those who will listen what we are FOR and not spend all of our time on what we are AGAINST. We must make our message a positive message of human rights and support for freedom of the individual, religious freedom, equal rights for women, and tolerance for all those ideologies that are not supportive of our destruction (i.e., political Islam).
Our countrymen are ignorant about Islam and the dangers that it represents; we must teach them.
Our countrymen know nothing of the doctrine of Islam; we must explain it to them.
Our countrymen are not aware of the history of Islam and its 1400-year jihad against kafirs everywhere; we must show them.
Our countrymen do not know that Islam is much more than a religion; it is our duty to lay it all out and tell them about it.
We have a duty to our country and countrymen to tell them the truth about Islam.
We must help our legislators to understand the threat so that they can create new laws, and enforce those already on the books that condemn and ban totalitarianism in our society.
We are scholars and students of Islam, jihad, Islamic history, and present day events of jihad. We have knowledge and understanding that our countrymen do not – it is our duty and mission to share our knowledge so that our leaders and voters can make the right decisions in defense of our lands and people against a resurgent Islamic universal jihad.
We must build understanding and the political will to oppose the greatest propaganda machine in history and their lies and distortions about Islam.
We must support the innocent victims of jihad.
We must hold our societies morally and ethically accountable for their silence in the face of the appalling suffering caused by adherents of the political ideology of Islam who commit crimes against humanity within and without our borders almost every day based entirely on the commands of Allah and Mohammed as found in the doctrine of Islam.
We must be scholar/warriors; a new kind of soldier in the endless war against totalitarianism and brutality and hate.
Our hearts are with our friends in Europe and across the world as we fight to open the eyes of a sleeping sheep population as the wolf of Islam wrecks havoc among them.
Islam is so strong because we are so weak. We are so weak because we are ignorant. Those who are not ignorant will teach those who are. Ignorance will dissipate and Islam will retreat.
The ugly riot in Harrow today occurred because SIOE had planned a demonstration. The rioting was not done by SIOE participants or organizers. Organizers of SIOE promised a non-violent event, but other forces including supporters of Islam created the violence. SIOA is entirely non-violent as is SIOE. Our message of freedom, democracy and opposition to tyranny and totalitarianism is not one that the multiculturalists or the forces of Islamic supremacism want to hear.
A large public “prayer event” of Muslim “solidarity” is planned for the Capitol on September 25th. The organizers of this event are hoping for 50,000 Muslims to pray at the Capitol from 4am to 7pm. We will be there, too.
On September 25th, in Washington, DC, SIOA will participate in an event to show our support of human rights and freedom for all. We will be there along with other like-minded organizations and leaders. We will be there to show the American people that there is an alternative view to the lie of Islam as the so-called “religion of peace”. On this anniversary of 9/11 we must remember why 9/11 happened and honor our innocent dead by telling the truth about Islam.
We will be there in support of human rights. We will support our Constitution and explain to those who will listen that the doctrine of Islam is fundamentally opposed to our form of government and to democracy, and human rights and to say that we are guaranteed freedom of religion in the United States by our Constitution. Freedom of Religion means freedom to choose one’s own beliefs; one can join a religion or leave it. Islamic doctrine clearly states that those who leave Islam are to be killed.
We believe in freedom and oppose those who do not. We will educate the American people so that the myths and lies are broken and the truth of this ideology of misogyny, hate, conquest, and brutality is known to all.
Please help us with this event. We are all in this together and we are all fighting for the same cause – human rights and democratic freedoms. More information will be forthcoming in the next few days regarding time and specific place and speakers. We hope that hundreds of supporters of our cause of freedom and human rights will attend this event. If you cannot attend and if you agree with our message, please donate to help us defray costs.
Please donate to our cause. (Click “donate” in upper right of the main page of this site.)
The sheep now do not know the wolf, but they will.
Ramadan Arrests in Egypt Called Unconstitutional
CAIRO (UPI)
An Egyptian clampdown on religiously prohibited eating and drinking during Ramadan is producing human rights abuses, advocates say.
They claim moves by the country's Interior Ministry to arrest those who eat and drink in public during daytime fasting hours of the Islamic holy month are unconstitutional. The group Copts for Egypt has instituted a campaign called "Save the Homeland" to oppose the arrests, al-Arabiya reported Wednesday.
"We issued a statement to the minister of interior calling upon him to investigate the arrests and put those in charge on trial," the group's spokesman, Samuel al-Ashay, told the newspaper. "They violated personal freedom and will end up creating another Taliban in Egypt."
Another human rights group, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, also blasted the Ramadan arrests. Its leader, Gamal Eid, told al-Arabiya, "There is no law that prohibits eating or drinking during the day in Ramadan. Every citizen has the right to eat and drink in Ramadan without being harassed. This means that the government is implicitly endorsing turning Egypt into a religious state."
Eid blamed the crackdown on the religious fanaticism of police officers, claiming the Interior Ministry of being complicit for not moving to stop them.
An Egyptian clampdown on religiously prohibited eating and drinking during Ramadan is producing human rights abuses, advocates say.
They claim moves by the country's Interior Ministry to arrest those who eat and drink in public during daytime fasting hours of the Islamic holy month are unconstitutional. The group Copts for Egypt has instituted a campaign called "Save the Homeland" to oppose the arrests, al-Arabiya reported Wednesday.
"We issued a statement to the minister of interior calling upon him to investigate the arrests and put those in charge on trial," the group's spokesman, Samuel al-Ashay, told the newspaper. "They violated personal freedom and will end up creating another Taliban in Egypt."
Another human rights group, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, also blasted the Ramadan arrests. Its leader, Gamal Eid, told al-Arabiya, "There is no law that prohibits eating or drinking during the day in Ramadan. Every citizen has the right to eat and drink in Ramadan without being harassed. This means that the government is implicitly endorsing turning Egypt into a religious state."
Eid blamed the crackdown on the religious fanaticism of police officers, claiming the Interior Ministry of being complicit for not moving to stop them.
Monday, September 14, 2009
UNESCO, Farouk Hosni No Thanks
In order to cement the refusal to have the Egyptian Minister of Cultural to lead one of United Nations' organization, a few points do need to be emphasized; the definition of UNESCO, who is Mr. Hosni, and Arabs’ plan in the international community.
1) UNESCO is an agency of United Nations. Its abbreviation stands for "United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization." This organization was established on November 16, 1945 to contribute towards peace and security. The same agency to promote international collaboration through education, science and culture, in order to further respect for justice, the rule of law and human rights and fundamental freedoms.
2) Farouk Hosni is actually the Egyptian cultural Minister. He was born in Alexandria in 1938. Hosni had completed his college study in the Egyptian School of Art in Alexandria .
3) Arab Plan: Arab-speaking countries along with countries of a Muslim majority to seek control of the vital international communities.
As reported above, the UNESCO is the important main part of the United Nations, and who heads this organization has to have integrity in all relationships with any education and culture. One important issue that needs to be cleared is that I personally do not have any personal problems with Mr. Hosni. I personally dealt with him during my first years of studying at the University of Rome in Italy . Meanwhile, I am sure that some Egyptian may be accusing me of damaging the Egyptian image outside of Egypt . I prefer to answer them by stating that UNESCO is more important than image that is truly damaged by its current ruler and regime.
Mr. Hosni has been the Egyptian cultural Minister for about 23 years and in all of those years the artist "Minster" (as he is called in Egypt ) did nothing to elevate the level of culture in Egypt but had creates damages that had increased to such a vast scale. However, if he did become the new head of UNESCO the following examples can happen:
- An Artist is supposed to be a sensitive person. So how can an artist sit as a Minister of Culture and Art for over 23 years? What were his achievements to improve culture in Egypt ? What is interesting is that Mr. Hosni follows the typical Arabic behavior. Mr. Hosni has proved to look nice on the outside but he stinks on the inside. During his reign as a Cultural Minister he did nothing to promote Egyptian Culture and Art. There weren't any development in any branch of the arts. However, on the other hand the proof was that the Mubarak administration did their best in using him to fight anything artistic work. At one time there was a theater called “Al Hanagir” that was for a long time the example of a certain level of high cultural society which was closed by Minister Hosni as an Order from Egyptian Security.
The current regime in Egypt never does accept any level of culture or artistic initiative. Young people today cannot congregate to improve themselves artistically as they can in other countries such as the US and or European counties.
- Minister Hosni never assisted the fledgling Egyptian film industry. But he was able to smuggle over 4,000 old Egyptian movies footage to private individuals and/or various businesses outside of the country. Billions of US Dollars has been the estimated damage done to the Egyptian economy. There also has been no attention made to the restoration of the footage of the great movies made in Egypt 's history by well known Egyptian artists.
During the last year, Minister Hosni indicated at various times that the intention of his ministry was to create a Cinematic that was up-to-date/modernizing the film industry and conserving its history, but in reality nothing had occurred. A project like this is important and vital to conserve important era of Egyptian film history. Furthermore, Mr. Hosni and his Ministry should be held responsible to the spoils of the Cairo Cinema festival by appointing unqualified people to run it.
- The quantity of ancient monuments smuggled out of Egypt in Hosni’s era is greater than what occurred in the Egyptian modern history including King Farouk era which was considered to be the most ever smuggled out at any time in history. Unfortunately, Minister Hosni had allowed power to Mr. Howas (current head of Egyptian Antiquity Department) who takes credit for any or all discoveries made prior and current and treats Egypt 's proud ancient monuments as his personal property.
- Not to long ago, about 50 young people were killed in a theater fire in a city called "Bani Sweef." The news of this was eventually leaked out as the government had tried to keep it hushed up. The minister of culture had not the capacity to look into whether this was a planned fire or an accident. No investigation by the Ministry was done, which makes this Ministry not care about human life.
- Minister Hosni who is Egyptian has proven to be extremely lackadaisical about all Coptic monuments and ancient Churches.
- Not too long ago, Minister Hosni had criticized the “hijab” he then apologized and retracted his words in that matter; once he was being the opposition. Same thing had occurred when he declared that he would burn any Hebrew book found in any Egyptian library. Later he apologized, to the miniscule Jewish community, and to gain their support in his UNESCO’s election had tried to restore a synagogue in Cairo . The dilemma is how can a culture minister one day mention burning books; when he is suppose to be the one that pushes for more culture and knowledge?
In my opinion, a man such as Minister Hosni's personality is not the candidate to become the head of an important organization as UNESCO, which makes me ask why does he want such a position?
It is obvious that the Arab Muslims countries are trying hard to take over the key point in this organization. Various United Nations organizations have become lead directly or indirectly by Arabs or by people appeasing them. If Minister Hosni reaches his own (and the Arabs' goal) to be the head of one of the important organizations of the world this can only result in saying good-bye to our true culture and to our scientific future.
Dottore Architetto Ashraf Ramelah
President
www.voiceofthecopts.org
www.lavocedeicopti.org
1) UNESCO is an agency of United Nations. Its abbreviation stands for "United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization." This organization was established on November 16, 1945 to contribute towards peace and security. The same agency to promote international collaboration through education, science and culture, in order to further respect for justice, the rule of law and human rights and fundamental freedoms.
2) Farouk Hosni is actually the Egyptian cultural Minister. He was born in Alexandria in 1938. Hosni had completed his college study in the Egyptian School of Art in Alexandria .
3) Arab Plan: Arab-speaking countries along with countries of a Muslim majority to seek control of the vital international communities.
As reported above, the UNESCO is the important main part of the United Nations, and who heads this organization has to have integrity in all relationships with any education and culture. One important issue that needs to be cleared is that I personally do not have any personal problems with Mr. Hosni. I personally dealt with him during my first years of studying at the University of Rome in Italy . Meanwhile, I am sure that some Egyptian may be accusing me of damaging the Egyptian image outside of Egypt . I prefer to answer them by stating that UNESCO is more important than image that is truly damaged by its current ruler and regime.
Mr. Hosni has been the Egyptian cultural Minister for about 23 years and in all of those years the artist "Minster" (as he is called in Egypt ) did nothing to elevate the level of culture in Egypt but had creates damages that had increased to such a vast scale. However, if he did become the new head of UNESCO the following examples can happen:
- An Artist is supposed to be a sensitive person. So how can an artist sit as a Minister of Culture and Art for over 23 years? What were his achievements to improve culture in Egypt ? What is interesting is that Mr. Hosni follows the typical Arabic behavior. Mr. Hosni has proved to look nice on the outside but he stinks on the inside. During his reign as a Cultural Minister he did nothing to promote Egyptian Culture and Art. There weren't any development in any branch of the arts. However, on the other hand the proof was that the Mubarak administration did their best in using him to fight anything artistic work. At one time there was a theater called “Al Hanagir” that was for a long time the example of a certain level of high cultural society which was closed by Minister Hosni as an Order from Egyptian Security.
The current regime in Egypt never does accept any level of culture or artistic initiative. Young people today cannot congregate to improve themselves artistically as they can in other countries such as the US and or European counties.
- Minister Hosni never assisted the fledgling Egyptian film industry. But he was able to smuggle over 4,000 old Egyptian movies footage to private individuals and/or various businesses outside of the country. Billions of US Dollars has been the estimated damage done to the Egyptian economy. There also has been no attention made to the restoration of the footage of the great movies made in Egypt 's history by well known Egyptian artists.
During the last year, Minister Hosni indicated at various times that the intention of his ministry was to create a Cinematic that was up-to-date/modernizing the film industry and conserving its history, but in reality nothing had occurred. A project like this is important and vital to conserve important era of Egyptian film history. Furthermore, Mr. Hosni and his Ministry should be held responsible to the spoils of the Cairo Cinema festival by appointing unqualified people to run it.
- The quantity of ancient monuments smuggled out of Egypt in Hosni’s era is greater than what occurred in the Egyptian modern history including King Farouk era which was considered to be the most ever smuggled out at any time in history. Unfortunately, Minister Hosni had allowed power to Mr. Howas (current head of Egyptian Antiquity Department) who takes credit for any or all discoveries made prior and current and treats Egypt 's proud ancient monuments as his personal property.
- Not to long ago, about 50 young people were killed in a theater fire in a city called "Bani Sweef." The news of this was eventually leaked out as the government had tried to keep it hushed up. The minister of culture had not the capacity to look into whether this was a planned fire or an accident. No investigation by the Ministry was done, which makes this Ministry not care about human life.
- Minister Hosni who is Egyptian has proven to be extremely lackadaisical about all Coptic monuments and ancient Churches.
- Not too long ago, Minister Hosni had criticized the “hijab” he then apologized and retracted his words in that matter; once he was being the opposition. Same thing had occurred when he declared that he would burn any Hebrew book found in any Egyptian library. Later he apologized, to the miniscule Jewish community, and to gain their support in his UNESCO’s election had tried to restore a synagogue in Cairo . The dilemma is how can a culture minister one day mention burning books; when he is suppose to be the one that pushes for more culture and knowledge?
In my opinion, a man such as Minister Hosni's personality is not the candidate to become the head of an important organization as UNESCO, which makes me ask why does he want such a position?
It is obvious that the Arab Muslims countries are trying hard to take over the key point in this organization. Various United Nations organizations have become lead directly or indirectly by Arabs or by people appeasing them. If Minister Hosni reaches his own (and the Arabs' goal) to be the head of one of the important organizations of the world this can only result in saying good-bye to our true culture and to our scientific future.
Dottore Architetto Ashraf Ramelah
President
www.voiceofthecopts.org
www.lavocedeicopti.org
Church Firebombed in Egypt After Opposition From Muslim Neighbors
Cairo (AINA) -- The Coptic Church of Saint Paul and Saint Peter in the town of Shebin el Kom, 60 kilometers northwest of Cairo, was burnt on 9/8/2009, No casualties were reported. There were conflicting reports as to the cause of the fire, the Egyptian police told the media that it was caused by a "short circuit" even before carrying out an arson investigation, while others believe it was arson.
Church authorities are keeping tight-lipped over the fire and refusing to comment before the results of the investigation are out. According to Free Copts, the priest and witnesses dismissed the possibility of an electric short circuit or a candle as the cause of the fire.
The fire started at about 3:00 PM, when the church was closed, after having had a morning service. It began at the central entrance door and spread inside to damage the church's interior. People who tried to help could not get into the locked church, "it was very frustrating to see the church burning inside and fire tongues coming out of the windows. We just stood there helplessly watching," a witness told Middle East Christian Association (MECA).
When the fire brigade arrived, the inside of the church was completely gutted. "Only the Holy Alter remained miraculously unharmed, but all the Saints' relics, icons and pictures were reduced to charcoal," commented a church worker. "All the beautiful features inside the church are now gone. It is evident by looking at the fire photos that they were targeted deliberately and maliciously in order to destroy them."
Several sources close to the church were interviewed, who asked to remain anonymous, believed that the fire was arson, caused by Muslim neighbors who were against having the church in their vicinity. They said that they have received numerous threats to have the Church firebombed. "We were enraged when they told us that the police report would be issued, as usual, blaming a short circuit for causing the fire, or in the worst scenario the arsonists would get off scot-free through the State Security's unofficial reconciliation meetings, in which Copts are forced to give up their rights for criminal charges," said one church member.
"The police decided before any forensics were carried out that the cause of the fire was caused by a short-circuit," said an unofficial Church source. "This cannot be true, as the electricity was shut off as usual before locking the Church and the panel boards are intact as the photos show."
Sherif Ramzy of Free Copts said that Coptic witnesses told him that while the fire was burning, Muslim neighbors were elated. To portray their happiness, Muslim women were letting out the traditional celebration sound "zaghroota."
Copts United were told "The reasons behind the church fire are the problems between the Church and the Muslim neighbors who are unhappy with the presence of the Church in their vicinity. The congregation was harassed, the priests insulted and threatened, and Koran chanting was played over the loud speakers during the Church services."
Coptic News Bulletin aired an audio with members of the Church who said that two Muslim men were always hovering near the Church since its inauguration a year ago, threatening and intimidating the congregation. "Everytime the Church priest reported them to the State Security, they disappeared for a while before coming back with more threats," said a Church member.
The Saint Paul and Saint Peter Church was originally an old Roman Catholic church, but due to the dwindling number of Catholics in Shebin el Kom, it was purchased by the Coptic church three years ago, and the interior was partly converted to Coptic Orthodox liturgical use. Coptic Church services started under last year. "The Catholic church was closed for a long time, so when the Coptic church started its services, the Muslims in the neighborhood became very angry," said one of the parishioners to Coptic News. "The neighbors were throwing dirty water from their balconies over us as we walked. The Muslims also complained that when weddings were held at Church, the number of invited guests with cars, led to traffic congestion."
On 9/12/2009 the Church congregation held a mass in the open air on the Church grounds.
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090912153320.htm
Church authorities are keeping tight-lipped over the fire and refusing to comment before the results of the investigation are out. According to Free Copts, the priest and witnesses dismissed the possibility of an electric short circuit or a candle as the cause of the fire.
The fire started at about 3:00 PM, when the church was closed, after having had a morning service. It began at the central entrance door and spread inside to damage the church's interior. People who tried to help could not get into the locked church, "it was very frustrating to see the church burning inside and fire tongues coming out of the windows. We just stood there helplessly watching," a witness told Middle East Christian Association (MECA).
When the fire brigade arrived, the inside of the church was completely gutted. "Only the Holy Alter remained miraculously unharmed, but all the Saints' relics, icons and pictures were reduced to charcoal," commented a church worker. "All the beautiful features inside the church are now gone. It is evident by looking at the fire photos that they were targeted deliberately and maliciously in order to destroy them."
Several sources close to the church were interviewed, who asked to remain anonymous, believed that the fire was arson, caused by Muslim neighbors who were against having the church in their vicinity. They said that they have received numerous threats to have the Church firebombed. "We were enraged when they told us that the police report would be issued, as usual, blaming a short circuit for causing the fire, or in the worst scenario the arsonists would get off scot-free through the State Security's unofficial reconciliation meetings, in which Copts are forced to give up their rights for criminal charges," said one church member.
"The police decided before any forensics were carried out that the cause of the fire was caused by a short-circuit," said an unofficial Church source. "This cannot be true, as the electricity was shut off as usual before locking the Church and the panel boards are intact as the photos show."
Sherif Ramzy of Free Copts said that Coptic witnesses told him that while the fire was burning, Muslim neighbors were elated. To portray their happiness, Muslim women were letting out the traditional celebration sound "zaghroota."
Copts United were told "The reasons behind the church fire are the problems between the Church and the Muslim neighbors who are unhappy with the presence of the Church in their vicinity. The congregation was harassed, the priests insulted and threatened, and Koran chanting was played over the loud speakers during the Church services."
Coptic News Bulletin aired an audio with members of the Church who said that two Muslim men were always hovering near the Church since its inauguration a year ago, threatening and intimidating the congregation. "Everytime the Church priest reported them to the State Security, they disappeared for a while before coming back with more threats," said a Church member.
The Saint Paul and Saint Peter Church was originally an old Roman Catholic church, but due to the dwindling number of Catholics in Shebin el Kom, it was purchased by the Coptic church three years ago, and the interior was partly converted to Coptic Orthodox liturgical use. Coptic Church services started under last year. "The Catholic church was closed for a long time, so when the Coptic church started its services, the Muslims in the neighborhood became very angry," said one of the parishioners to Coptic News. "The neighbors were throwing dirty water from their balconies over us as we walked. The Muslims also complained that when weddings were held at Church, the number of invited guests with cars, led to traffic congestion."
On 9/12/2009 the Church congregation held a mass in the open air on the Church grounds.
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090912153320.htm
Egyptian Police Arrest Christians, Muslims for Eating
Egyptian Police Arrest Christians, Muslims for Eating
(AINA) -- On August 30, 2009 Egyptian police forces in the Upper Egyptian town of Aswan, launched an unprecedented and unconstitutional campaign to enforce the Ramadan fast, the Muslim month of fasting, arresting 150 for publicly eating, drinking or smoking.
These arrests were seen by many as a step closer towards adopting an Egyptian model of the Saudi Arabian "Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" Police Squads.
"There is no such offence in the Egyptian law," said lawyer Khaled Ali, executive director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. "The Interior Ministry, to justify the arrests, has twisted "violating public decency," which is punishable under Egyptian law, by making eating and drinking publicly in Ramadan to fall under this category."
Faced with a public outcry, the Ministry of Interior denied the arrests, and the Aswan head of Criminal Investigations stated, contrary to published reports, that the arrests never happened at all. This was followed by the Ministry of Interior saying the public has misunderstood the campaign, which is aimed at combating crime in general and drugs in particular during the holy month, and that those arrested 'looked suspicious' to the police.
Coptic lawyer and activist, Mamdouh Ramzy told the Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Saba'a on 9/8/2009 that the police in the Governorates of Hurgada and Dakahlia have been following suit. He called on the Minister of Interior to investigate the police officers involved in these campaigns, and failing that, Ramzy threatened to file a complaint with the Attorney General.
Ramzy fears that Egypt is becoming another "Taliban State," and described the Interior Ministry's actions as persecution of Christians, who naturally don't fast during Ramadan and are prone to arrests. He cites these actions as strong evidence of the "radicalization" of the Egyptian police forces.
Al Arabiya News reported on 9/9/2009 the governor of Hurgada ordered all cafes and restaurants to be closed for business during the day, despite the city's popularity as a tourist destination. It also reported that in the Delta governorate of Dakahlia, seven youths were arrested for smoking in the street and were later released after paying a fine of LE 500 ($90).
Jurists and human rights organizations in Egypt condemned the raids, saying that there is no article in the law nor in the Constitution, which provides for arresting those who publicly broke the fast. In addition, it is against the civil rights of citizens, and neither the police nor others are allowed to violate them.
Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), cites this incident as evidence that "the government is implicitly endorsing turning Egypt into a religious state," in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Saba'a. "Silence over the actions of its police force in Aswan only proves that the Interior Ministry is in collusion and approves this illegal behavior."
Eid also says this is not the first time the government tried to adopt these Ramadan non-fasting campaigns. "Two years ago, the government tried them in Cairo and several arrests were made at the time, but it had to back down because they were unconstitutional"
Mohamed Al-Jilani, Assistant Secretary-General of the Free Constitutional Party and founder of "Egypt for Egyptians" Association said that Egypt now lives in the "Golden Age of Wahhabism"
Coptic activist General Nasry Girgis told Copts United that history tells us that until the beginning of the reign of Khedive Muhammad Ali, Christians were forbidden to manifest publicly breaking fast in Ramadan. "Does this means we are moving backwards 200 years in time?"
Members of the Islamic Research Academy called on 8/9/2009 for a law to be passed which makes breaking Ramadan fast in public punishable. One of its members, Dr. Mohamed Othman, told the Egyptian Rosel Youssef newspaper "to profess breaking Ramadan fast is a disrespect to the feelings of those who fast, and if there is an excuse for not fasting, then a person should stay out of public sight."
Dr. Mohamed el-Gindy, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, gives the authorities the right to arrest those who publicly break Ramadan fast, and should issue a binding ruling to punish them. He explains that those who are not fasting should not leave their homes, and venture out into the street, as this is something which is contrary to the norm, therefore the public authority is authorized and can act to prevent committing such a "sin."
Muslim Salafis greeted the arrests as a step forward towards implementing Shari'a laws in Egypt. Sheikh Adel al-Sayed, deputy chairman of the religious non-governmental organization Ansar al-Sunnah (Supporters of the Prophet's Teachings) in Egypt, told Al Arabiya News that although fasting is between Allah and His worshiper, flaunting sins publicly is against Shari'a and the police initiative promotes virtue and prevents vice. "If a man drinks at home, I cannot arrest him but if he drinks in public, I am fully entitled to pursue him in the name of the law; there is a clear clause in Egyptian law against violating ethics and morals."
During Ramadan in September 2008, the police in the north-eastern city of Port Said, near the Suez Canal, raided and demolished the cafe of six Christian brothers and brutally assaulted them for opening for business during Ramadan. The Ghattas brothers were sentenced in January 2009 to three years imprisonment with hard labor, charged with resisting arrest and assaulting the police. Although a video of the police raid, shot by a passerby, was presented to court by their defense lawyer, Ramsis el-Naggar, the judge dismissed it.
In the latest campaigns, police officers have actually used their official position and made use of the government's organs to limit the freedom of citizens and criminalized their behavior without any legal basis. The great concern is the lack of clarity on the law of "violating public decency."
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090910183125.htm
link to video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu7mR6wmjtY
(AINA) -- On August 30, 2009 Egyptian police forces in the Upper Egyptian town of Aswan, launched an unprecedented and unconstitutional campaign to enforce the Ramadan fast, the Muslim month of fasting, arresting 150 for publicly eating, drinking or smoking.
These arrests were seen by many as a step closer towards adopting an Egyptian model of the Saudi Arabian "Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" Police Squads.
"There is no such offence in the Egyptian law," said lawyer Khaled Ali, executive director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. "The Interior Ministry, to justify the arrests, has twisted "violating public decency," which is punishable under Egyptian law, by making eating and drinking publicly in Ramadan to fall under this category."
Faced with a public outcry, the Ministry of Interior denied the arrests, and the Aswan head of Criminal Investigations stated, contrary to published reports, that the arrests never happened at all. This was followed by the Ministry of Interior saying the public has misunderstood the campaign, which is aimed at combating crime in general and drugs in particular during the holy month, and that those arrested 'looked suspicious' to the police.
Coptic lawyer and activist, Mamdouh Ramzy told the Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Saba'a on 9/8/2009 that the police in the Governorates of Hurgada and Dakahlia have been following suit. He called on the Minister of Interior to investigate the police officers involved in these campaigns, and failing that, Ramzy threatened to file a complaint with the Attorney General.
Ramzy fears that Egypt is becoming another "Taliban State," and described the Interior Ministry's actions as persecution of Christians, who naturally don't fast during Ramadan and are prone to arrests. He cites these actions as strong evidence of the "radicalization" of the Egyptian police forces.
Al Arabiya News reported on 9/9/2009 the governor of Hurgada ordered all cafes and restaurants to be closed for business during the day, despite the city's popularity as a tourist destination. It also reported that in the Delta governorate of Dakahlia, seven youths were arrested for smoking in the street and were later released after paying a fine of LE 500 ($90).
Jurists and human rights organizations in Egypt condemned the raids, saying that there is no article in the law nor in the Constitution, which provides for arresting those who publicly broke the fast. In addition, it is against the civil rights of citizens, and neither the police nor others are allowed to violate them.
Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), cites this incident as evidence that "the government is implicitly endorsing turning Egypt into a religious state," in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Saba'a. "Silence over the actions of its police force in Aswan only proves that the Interior Ministry is in collusion and approves this illegal behavior."
Eid also says this is not the first time the government tried to adopt these Ramadan non-fasting campaigns. "Two years ago, the government tried them in Cairo and several arrests were made at the time, but it had to back down because they were unconstitutional"
Mohamed Al-Jilani, Assistant Secretary-General of the Free Constitutional Party and founder of "Egypt for Egyptians" Association said that Egypt now lives in the "Golden Age of Wahhabism"
Coptic activist General Nasry Girgis told Copts United that history tells us that until the beginning of the reign of Khedive Muhammad Ali, Christians were forbidden to manifest publicly breaking fast in Ramadan. "Does this means we are moving backwards 200 years in time?"
Members of the Islamic Research Academy called on 8/9/2009 for a law to be passed which makes breaking Ramadan fast in public punishable. One of its members, Dr. Mohamed Othman, told the Egyptian Rosel Youssef newspaper "to profess breaking Ramadan fast is a disrespect to the feelings of those who fast, and if there is an excuse for not fasting, then a person should stay out of public sight."
Dr. Mohamed el-Gindy, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, gives the authorities the right to arrest those who publicly break Ramadan fast, and should issue a binding ruling to punish them. He explains that those who are not fasting should not leave their homes, and venture out into the street, as this is something which is contrary to the norm, therefore the public authority is authorized and can act to prevent committing such a "sin."
Muslim Salafis greeted the arrests as a step forward towards implementing Shari'a laws in Egypt. Sheikh Adel al-Sayed, deputy chairman of the religious non-governmental organization Ansar al-Sunnah (Supporters of the Prophet's Teachings) in Egypt, told Al Arabiya News that although fasting is between Allah and His worshiper, flaunting sins publicly is against Shari'a and the police initiative promotes virtue and prevents vice. "If a man drinks at home, I cannot arrest him but if he drinks in public, I am fully entitled to pursue him in the name of the law; there is a clear clause in Egyptian law against violating ethics and morals."
During Ramadan in September 2008, the police in the north-eastern city of Port Said, near the Suez Canal, raided and demolished the cafe of six Christian brothers and brutally assaulted them for opening for business during Ramadan. The Ghattas brothers were sentenced in January 2009 to three years imprisonment with hard labor, charged with resisting arrest and assaulting the police. Although a video of the police raid, shot by a passerby, was presented to court by their defense lawyer, Ramsis el-Naggar, the judge dismissed it.
In the latest campaigns, police officers have actually used their official position and made use of the government's organs to limit the freedom of citizens and criminalized their behavior without any legal basis. The great concern is the lack of clarity on the law of "violating public decency."
By Mary Abdelmassih
http://www.aina.org/news/20090910183125.htm
link to video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu7mR6wmjtY
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Coptic strike?
Monday 07 September 2009 - 05:16 PM
A Coptic strike?
Overseas groups call for a general strike on Friday, against the Church's objections
By Joseph Mayton
Support for a Coptic strike and boycott in Egypt this Friday continues to build, despite the Coptic Church of Alexandria’s refusal to get behind the action led by Coptic groups abroad. The most recent organization to announce their participation is the Coptic American Assembly led by Camille Halim, who cited numerous government offenses against Copts in Egypt as the guiding principle behind their demands. A number of Coptic organizations based abroad called late last month for a general strike in Egypt on 11 September and asked Copts to wear black to commemorate the Christian minority’s New Year celebrations that day. The coalition of Coptic groups, led by Morris Sadek of the National Assembly of the American Copts, is demanding action for what he has repeatedly called the “repression of Copts by Muslims in Egypt." Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the American-based Egyptian said that the planned strike is to be peaceful and “reflects the Copts' rejection of the ongoing persecution that Copts have dealt with for the past three decades." The proposed strike calls on Copts to remain at home all day. If they must leave their homes for any reason, they should wear black, according to a statement from Sadek’s organization. Copts in Egypt, however, have voiced little support for the strike calls. George Tadros, a local pharmacist, says “We don’t care what these people say. They do not speak for us and our country. “We are here, in Egypt, and they are all abroad saying these things that will do nothing but harm the situation on the ground," he added. The assembly said in a statement that they joined the call for the strike in order to achieve “justice for the Egyptian Christians" and to stop what the statement called “the Egyptian government’s disregard of their cases and discrimination against them." However, the Coptic Church has said they would not back the strike and have called on their members not to join the demonstrations, as it could “lead to furthering the sectarian tensions in the country." Among the demands are calls for a unified common law for the construction of houses of worship and the cancellation of the customary meetings of reconciliation between Muslims and Christians following a sectarian dispute or violence, “which leads to the repetition and lack of enforcing the law." Also joining the strike is the homegrown Egyptian Liberal Party – an obscure party that has yet to be formally accepted by the Egyptian political system – stressing in a statement that it supports the “right of Copts to pressure the Egyptian regime to reach their legitimate rights." The statement was published on the group’s Facebook page and explained that the Copts' “calls for the strike of September 11th, is a peaceful [action] to alert the civilized community of their rights that must be preserved." However, not everyone is convinced that a strike will be worth the effort or achieve any of these goals. Adel Fakhry Daniel, chairman of the proposed Coptic Integrity Party of Egypt has publicly rejected the strike calls, describing it as “unworthy." He stressed that the strike would not be effective and would “cause a crisis between the Church." Daniel, speaking via telephone, described the strike as “a childish plan that does not give clear options for change. It just gets people angry. Although the Copts have a lot of problems, led by the building of churches problems, we hope that the state would intervene to solve them." Daniel called on Copts not to participate in these proceedings, which would “threaten" Egypt’s security and “further endanger" the minority group’s claims. With Friday looming, the question now is whether Egypt’s Coptic minority will abide by the calls from groups outside the country.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Coptic Priest supports Egypt strike « Bikya Masr
Coptic Priest supports Egypt strike « Bikya Masr
Sep 4, 2009 ... Leading the strike charge is Morris Sadek, a lawyer and President of the National Assembly of the American Copts. ...bikyamasr.wordpress.com/.../coptic-priest-supports-egypt-strike/ - 17 hours ago - Similar
Copts abroad call for national strike in Egypt
Egyptian Coptic communities abroad have called on September 11 for a general strike in Egypt and asked Copts to wear black to commemorate the day. September 11 is also the Coptic
It is a peaceful strike. It reflects our rejection to the perpetual prosecution that Copts endure for the past 28 years. Please be aware that Copts' reject that killing incidents of copts in Mubarak's era. It is well known that the copts lost 4000 people and endure 1500 attack. In addition to the extreme discrimination in government agencies and the destruction of their Church's, Copts working in the pork meat industry declare bankruptcy because of the government ignorant practices. Accordingly, our organization call upon all copts to join this strike.
http://bikyamasr.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/copts-abroad-call-for-national-strike-in-egypt/
Sep 4, 2009 ... Leading the strike charge is Morris Sadek, a lawyer and President of the National Assembly of the American Copts. ...bikyamasr.wordpress.com/.../coptic-priest-supports-egypt-strike/ - 17 hours ago - Similar
Copts abroad call for national strike in Egypt
Egyptian Coptic communities abroad have called on September 11 for a general strike in Egypt and asked Copts to wear black to commemorate the day. September 11 is also the Coptic
It is a peaceful strike. It reflects our rejection to the perpetual prosecution that Copts endure for the past 28 years. Please be aware that Copts' reject that killing incidents of copts in Mubarak's era. It is well known that the copts lost 4000 people and endure 1500 attack. In addition to the extreme discrimination in government agencies and the destruction of their Church's, Copts working in the pork meat industry declare bankruptcy because of the government ignorant practices. Accordingly, our organization call upon all copts to join this strike.
http://bikyamasr.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/copts-abroad-call-for-national-strike-in-egypt/
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